LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS PERU PART 2: LANDSLIDES

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LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE
DISASTERSPERUPART 2 LANDSLIDES
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster
Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA 
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NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN
PERU
FLOODS
GOAL PROTECT PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES
LANDSLIDES
EARTHQUAKESHUAYCOS--TSUNAMIS
HIGH BENEFIT/COST PROGRAMS FOR BECOMING DISASTER
RESILIENT
VOLCANOES
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
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Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters

• Planet Earths atmospheric, hydrospheric, and
  lithospheric interactions cause LANDSLIDES

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PERU ON THE SOUTH AMERICAN TECTONIC PLATE
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Peru is affected often by landslides as the
result of its steep slopes also many are
triggered by floods and earthquakes
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LANDSLIDES represent permanent deformation
caused by the downward and outward, down-slope
movements of large volumes of soil and/or rock
under the influence of the force of gravity.
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PHYSICS OF LANDSLIDES

• Landslides occur naturally on slopes.
• Landslides can be triggered and/or exacerbated
  by 1) water (from precipitation during a
  tropical storm, hurricane, or typhoon), or 2)
  vibrations (from ground shaking during an
  earthquake).

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A DISASTER is ---

• --- the set of failures that overwhelm the
  capability of a community to respond without
  external help  when three continuums 1)  people,
  2) community (i.e., a set of habitats,
  livelihoods, and social constructs), and 3)
  complex events (e.g., landslides, ...) intersect
  at a point in space and time.

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Disasters are caused by single- or
multiple-event natural hazards that, (for
various reasons), cause extreme levels of
mortality, morbidity, homelessness, joblessness,
economic losses, or environmental impacts.
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THE REASONS ARE . . .

• When it does happen, the functions of the
  communitys buildings and infrastructure will be
  LOST because they are UNPROTECTED with the
  appropriate codes and standards.

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THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community is UN-PREPARED for what will likely
  happen, not to mention the low-probability of
  occurrencehigh-probability of adverse
  consequences event.

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THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community has NO DISASTER PLANNING SCENARIO
  or WARNING SYSTEM in place as a strategic
  framework for concerted local, national,
  regional, and international countermeasures.

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THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community is INEFFICIENT during recovery and
  reconstruction because it HAS NOT LEARNED from
  either the current experience or the cumulative
  prior experiences.

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TOWARDS LANDSLIDE DISASTER RESILIENCE
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LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

• ALL LANDSLIDES PREPAREDNESS FOR ALL THE LIKELY
  HAZARDS IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

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PERUS COMMUNITIES
DATA BASES AND INFORMATION
HAZARDS GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE
SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN
UP AFTERSHOCKS
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ELEMENTS OF LANDSLIDE RISK
RISK
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LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

• ALL LANDSLIDES PROTECTION OF PEOPLE,
  BUILDINGS, AND INFRASTRUCTURE IS ESSENTIAL FOR
  DISASTER RESILIENCE

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LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

• ALL LANDSLIDES EARLY WARNING AND LOCAL
  EVACUATION ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

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LANDSLIDE HAZARDSARE POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS
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A DISASTER CAN HAPPENWHEN THE POTENTIAL
DISASTER AGENTS OF A LANDSLIDE INTERACT WITH THE
BUILT ENVIRONMENTS OF PERUS COMMUNITIES
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LANDSLIDE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS)

• DOWN-SLOPE MOVEMENT OF SOIL AND/OR ROCK (CAN
  FORM A LAKE)
• DOWN-SLOPE FLOW OF WET SOIL (AKA MUDFLOW CAN
  BURY A VILLAGE)
• LATERAL SPREADING OF SOIL AND/OR ROCK (CAN CAUSE
  PERMANENT DEFORMATION TO INFRASTRUCTURE)

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CAUSES OF DAMAGE
SITING AND BUILDING ON UNSTABLE SLOPES
SOIL AND ROCK SUCEPTIBLE TO FALLS
SOIL AND ROCK SUCEPTIBLE TO TOPPLES
SOIL AND ROCK SUCEPTIBLE TO SPREADS
LANDSLIDES
SOIL AND ROCK SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLOWS
CASE HISTORIES
PRECIPITATION THAT TRIGGERS SLOPE FAILURE
SHAKING
GROUND SHAKING THAT TRIGGERS SLOPE FAILURE
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LESSONS LEARNED FROM ALL LANDSLIDES

• ALL LANDSLIDES TIMELY EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS
  ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

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PERUS MOST NOTABLE LANDSLIDES
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NOTE IT IS NOT ONLY PERUS POOREST OF THE POOR
WHO OFTEN LIVE IN LANDSLIDE-PRONE LOATIONS THAT
ARE AT RISK, BUT ALSO THE TOURISTS WHO VISIT THE
SAME PLACES
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RAIN AND MUDSLIDES INCREASE GROWING CONCERNS
ABOUT LANDSLIDE RISK IN MACHU PICCHU

• 2,500 TOURISTS STRANDED
• JANUARY 28, 2010

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MACHU PICCHU
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More than 300,000 people a year make the trip to
Machu Picchu to marvel at the 500-year-old
structures built from blocks of granite chiseled
from the mountainside
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On January 28, 2010, rain and mudflows
devastated the homes of thousands of Peruvians
living in the vicinity of Machu Picchu and
created havoc for tourists visiting Machu Picchu
and the Peruvian authorities.
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Peruvian authorities used helicopters to
airlift some of the foreign tourists trapped by
rain and mudslides that killed seven people
visiting the famed Inca ruins.
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More than 2,500 others were left stranded
1,900 in nearby Aguas Calientes and 670 more on
the Inca Trail, the narrow Andean pathway up to
Machu Picchu that had been cut in several places
by mudslides.
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Stranded tourists were temporarily left
sleeping in the street square, in gyms, in
schools, on trains, and in makeshift tents.

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Two landslidesone in December 1995 and another a
month laterthat occurred on the road that
zigzags up the steep embankment from Aguas
Calientes to Machu Picchu had already raised
international concerns about the risk to tourists
and Machu Picchu.

• ,

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The International Counsel of Scientific
Associations prepared a landslide hazard
assessment report for UNESCO in 1999, warning of
the possibility of a landslide disaster at Machu
Picchu.
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Geologists at Kyoto University in Japan
concluded recently that a massive landslide could
send the stone ruins of Machu Picchu crashing
into the Urubamba River below.
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Now, many worry that a major landslide may be
imminent at Machu Picchu and that it will be a
big one But no one knows when it will
happen, or exactly what to do about it.
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WORST LANDSLIDE 1970 IN PERU

• A M7.9 earthquake that occurred offshore Peru in
  1970 triggered a massive landslide of snow and
  rock in the Nevados Huascaran Mountains.
• 100 million cubic km of rock and soil buried
  Yungay, Ramrahirca, and several villages, killing
  18,000.

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ANOTHER NOTABLE LANDSLIDE IN PERU IS INEVITABLE

• THE PERUVIANS HAVE A MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING
  OF THE IMPORTANCE OF LANDSLIDE DISASTER
  RESILIENCE SINCE THE 2010 EVENT AND THE 1970
  NEVADOS HUASCARA MTMS. LANDSLIDE DISASTER

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR LANDSLIDE DISASTER
RESILIENCE

• REAL TIME WEATHER FORCASTING AND WARNING SYSTEMS
• MEASURMENT TECHNOLOGIES (E.G., STREAM GAGUES)
• RISK MODELING (E.G., HAZUS, INSURANCE
  UNDERWRITING)

• HISTORICAL DATABASES FOR LANDSLIDE-PRONE AREAS
• MAPS 100-YEAR AND 500-YEAR FLOODS GROUND
  SHAKING
• EARTHQUAKE DISASTER SCENARIOS