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http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/news/v.php?id=10782&a=email 

Landslide impacts can be reduced 

 

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Date:12 Aug 2009 

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Source(s):United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat 
(UNISDR

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Press Release: UNISDR 2009/13 
 
More landslides can be expected as climate change exacerbates rainfall intensity – but 
their impact can be reduced, stresses the UN organization charged with coordinating 
global disaster risk reduction. 
 
"As this week's tragic events in East Asia show once again, people living on unstable 
slopes and steep terrains are particularly at risk from landslides in the wake of torrential 
rain and flooding," says Margareta Wahlström who heads the UN International Strategy 
for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). "While landslides are hard to predict, people 
living in landslide-prone areas can be alerted in advance if there are monitoring and 
warning systems in place to measure rainfalls and soil conditions." 
 
Such action is essential with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicting 
more intense rainfalls in the future, leading to increased instability of slopes and making 
more people vulnerable to landslides. Population growth and urbanization of steep 
hillsides will add to the problem. 
 
UNISDR points to a number of examples where sound and sustainable preventive 
measures have demonstrably reduced landslide impact: 
 
In Hong Kong, which has a long history of death and destruction wreaked by landslides, 
a 'Slope Safety System' introduced by the Government in the mid-1970s has resulted in a 
50% fall in the casualty rates from landslides on the 1977 level, targeting a further 
reduction – to 75% – by 2010. Measures focus on protective and remedial work, 
monitoring and early warning and a wide-ranging education program and provide a 
comprehensive "risk reduction" approach combining science, engineering works and 

 

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public outreach.  
 
Following a landslide in August 2002 in Orosi de Cartago, the Costa Rican Red Cross 
implemented an early warning system to mitigate future events. Some 200 people were 
trained in disaster preparedness and 30 community members received basic training as 
radio operators. Nine months after this disaster, another landslide occurred but this time 
the local response was more proactive and helped saved many people. 
 
The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), a ten year plan to reduce all types of disaster 
risks, signed by 168 Governments in 2005, encourages local authorities to identify 
landslide risk and vulnerabilities, establish hazard maps and put in place effective 
monitoring systems. It also recommends implementing protective engineering works, 
urban planning strategies, environmental management and community preparedness. 
 
“Landslides are a growing problem in many countries, but, as these examples show, 
people living in landslide-prone areas can be better protected” adds Wahlström, who is 
also the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. 
“More action is needed to reduce disaster risks and avoid losses and HFA provides the 
direction on how to do so.” 
 
For more about the Hong Kong initiative please see the following website: 
http://www.cedd.gov.hk/eng/publications/fact_sheet/doc/geotechnical_services_300408.p
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For more information about landslides see also:  
And The International Consortium of Landslides: http://iclhq.org/