Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture
Japan

Management of landslide hazard in the Asia-Pacific region

Organizer(s) Japan Landslide Society
Date
-

Introduction
Despite the increasing level of understanding of landslide phenomenon and the recent scientific and technological developments in landslide forecasting, prevention and mitigation, humans continue to be affected by landslide disasters. Even in the early years of this new millennium, several large-scale landslides, such as those induced by the recent earthquakes in Pakistan and the rainfall-induced catastrophic landslide that occurred on Leyte Island in Philippines, have devastated the lives and properties of large numbers of people’s.

The Asia-Pacific region is seriously affected by landslides. The combination of an extremely active but diverse tectonic setting, high rates of weathering, and abundant rainfall promotes an elevated level of natural landslide activity. Furthermore, the rapid growth of the population and development of infrastructure has led to an extreme vulnerability to landslides. For example, many parts of Japan experience high frequency of landslides. In 2004 an intraplate earthquake in Niigata prefecture triggered a high density of multiple landslides. Immediately, aconcentrated program of mitigation and countermeasures has been undertaken to lessen the hazard in this area.

During its 45-year history the Japan Landslide Society organized annual symposia on domestic landslide and landslide hazard management. Furthermore, the Society conducted International Conference and Field Workshop on Landslides (ICFL) in 1985, and in coordination with the Nepal Landslide Society it co-hosted the “International Symposium on Landslide Hazards in Orogenic Zones, from the Himalaya to Island Arcs in Asia” in 2005 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

As global trends of climate change, environmental destruction and population explosion are likely to further increase the occurrence of landslide disasters, there is a pressing need to develop opportunities for the exchange between researchers, engineers and government personnel of the most up-to-date information on the nature of landslides and on techniques for their mitigation. In this regard, the Japan Landslide Society has decided to coordinate with the related organizations and host an international conference for providing such opportunity to present and exchange information on landslide hazard and management with focus on the Asia-Pacific Region.

Objectives:
The conference is designed to provide a stimulating forum for geoscientists, engineers, programme managers, and other decision makers concerned with landslide hazards and their management.

It will provide a forum for landslide researchers in the international community to share knowledge and exchange ideas on how to undertake landslide hazard assessment, landslide movement prediction, landslide management and landslide mitigation using state-of-the-art techniques.

Key Themes:
1. Landslide mechanisms;
2. Measurement, instrumentation, monitoring and modeling;
3. Landslide hazard mapping;
4. Countermeasure techniques for landslide stabilization;
5. Non-structural measures and education on landslide problems.

Explore further

Hazards Landslide
Country and region Andorra Asia
Share this

Please note: Content is displayed as last posted by a PreventionWeb community member or editor. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of UNDRR, PreventionWeb, or its sponsors. See our terms of use

Is this page useful?

Yes No Report an issue on this page

Thank you. If you have 2 minutes, we would benefit from additional feedback (link opens in a new window).