Qualifier Seminar by Mr. Tolga Görüm
Department of Earth Systems Analysis, ITC
Towards an Improved Method for Earthquake Induced Landslide Susceptibility and Hazard
Earthquakes effect has long been recognized as one of the main triggers for landslides of many different types. Earthquake-induced landslides may cause considerable loss of life, economic damage, and short-and long-term landscape change. Large earthquakes in mountainous terrain can cause thousands of landslides and these landslides continue their activity in a specific time period. Additionally, landslides occurring after an earthquake increase the landslide hazard susceptibility in the region.
On May 12, 2008, an earthquake having a magnitude of 7.9 (Mw) occurred on the NE-SW trending Longmen Shan fault zone at the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau in Sichuan, China. It not only caused severe damage to infrastructure, but also triggered a large number (more than 11,000) of landslides, rockfalls, rock avalanches, and debris flows. One third of estimated 88,000 casualties of the earthquake were considered to be caused by landslides.
The main purposes of this study is first to develop a method for post-earthquake hazard assessment to make use in the reconstruction-planning and rebuilding of Wenchuan county and Beichuan city in Sichuan Province. Secondly, it is aimed to improve existing earthquake induced landslide susceptibility and hazard assessment methods based on casual relationships between landslides, geo-environmental and triggering factors during Wenchuan earthquake (Mw 7.9). The research will be conducted in four different stages. These are (i) preparation of historical, event and detailed temporal geomorphic landslide inventory of the study area, and assessment of predisposing factors, (ii) analyzing the distribution of landslides to understand the landslide frequency size distribution relations and landslide processes of the study area, (iii) landslide susceptibility-hazard mapping using the current methods and analyzing the results to improve the method in accordance with the specific needs of the case study and (iv) post-earthquake landslide hazard assessment. Finally, considering the proposed method, post-earthquake hazard maps of the selected areas in the Sichuan Province for 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, and 100 years will produced.
| Timesheet | |
|---|---|
| Event starts: | Friday 08 May 2009 at 15:30 |
| Venue: | ITC, 3-004 |
| Organized by: | Bureau Research Coordination |
| City where event takes place: | Enschede |
| Country where event takes place: | Netherlands |