The Landslide Hazards Program conducts basic research, carries out landslide hazard assessments, pursues landslide investigations and forecasts, provides technical assistance to respond to landslide emergencies, and engages in outreach activities.
FAQs
What is the role of the USGS in responding to hurricanes?
The USGS creates detailed maps of our Nation’s shorelines, dunes, and coastal cliffs, and studies how storm processes impact our coastlines. This information is used to predict and map coastal vulnerability to changes caused by major storms, long-term shoreline erosion, sea-level rise, and sea cliff erosion. One example is the USGS Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast Viewer, which uses...
Why is elevation data so important to forecasting hurricane impact?
The fundamental lesson of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 (and prior catastrophic storms and hurricanes) was that storm vulnerability is first and foremost a consequence of elevation. The height at which infrastructure, resources, and communities sit in relation to average tides and water levels, storm waves, surge, and flood waters determines their exposure to overwhelmingly powerful damaging forces...
Education
Why should I care about landslides?
Landslides pose significant risks to public health and safety, local economies, and home and business owners
Why do landslides occur?
Landslides occur when forces that form them overcome forces resisting their formation. This can happen quickly, such as during an earthquake or rainstorm, or slowly, as happens from stream or shoreline erosion, melting of permafrost in a warming climate, or gradual weakening of hillslope materials.
Where do landslides occur?
Landslides occur in every state and U.S. territory including the Appalachian Mountains, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Coastal Ranges, and some parts of Alaska and Hawaii. Any area composed of very weak or fractured materials resting on a steep slope can and will likely experience landslides.