Estimating Landslide Losses - Preliminary Results of a Seven-State Pilot Project

In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey Landslide Hazards Program provided funding
for seven State geological surveys to report on the status of landslide
investigation strategies in each of their States, and to suggest improved ways
to approach the tracking of landslides, their effects, losses associated with
the landslides, and hazard mitigation strategies. Each State was to provide a
draft report suggesting innovative ways to track landslides, and to participate
in subsequent workshops. A workshop was convened in June 2003 in Lincoln, Neb.,
to discuss the results and future strategies on how best to incorporate the
seven pilot projects into one methodology that all of the 50 States could
adopt. The seven individual reports produced by the State surveys are published
here to put forth a forum for discussion of the varying methods of tracking
landslides.

This pilot study, conducted by seven State geological surveys, examines the
feasibility of collecting accurate and reliable information on economic losses
associated with landslides. Each State survey examined the availability,
distribution, and inherent uncertainties of economic loss data in their study
areas. Their results provide the basis for identifying the most fruitful
methods of collecting landslide loss data nationally, using methods that are
consistent and provide common goals. These results can enhance and establish
the future directions of scientific investigation priorities by convincingly
documenting landslide risks and consequences that are universal throughout the
50 States.

[Summary provided by the USGS.]