Economic Losses and Fatalities Due to Landslides

Economic losses and casualties due to landslides are greater than commonly recognized. Annual losses in the United States, Japan, Italy, and India have been estimated at $1 billion or more each. Only scattered and incomplete information is available for many countries known to have serious landslide problems; examples include Indonesia, China, the Soviet Union, Nepal, and some South American countries. During the period 1971–74, nearly 600 people per year were killed by landslides worldwide; about 90 percent of these deaths occurred in the Circum-Pacific region. From 1967–82, 150 people per year died in Japan as a result of slope failures. In the United States, the number of landslide-related fatalities per year exceeds 25. Japan leads other nations in development of comprehensive programs to reduce economic losses and fatalities due to landslides. The United States, through the work of the Committee on Ground Failure Hazards of the National Research Council, recently has proposed a national landslide hazard reduction program. The National Research Council recommendations include research on (1) landslide identification and mapping, (2) initiation and mechanics of transport, and (3) innovative control techniques. In many countries, socioeconomic information on landslides should be assembled to provide a basis for assigning research priorities to problems of greatest potential benefit.