Quantitative methods of landslide hazard characterization

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Summary, Quantitative Methods for Landslide Hazard Characterization O.Hungr, Earth and Ocean Sciences, UBC, October 18, 2005 Landslide hazards exact a steady toll of life loss and economic damage in all parts of the world.  The losses continue to increase in consequence of growing population and infrastructure and as a result of climate change.  They must be reduced by means of risk management (e.g. Hungr, O., Fell, R., Couture, R. and Eberhardt, E., Eds., 2005, "Landslide Risk Management", Taylor and Francis Group, London).  The foundation of any rational risk management policy is the ability of geoscience professionals to reliably predict the extent and behaviour characteristics of landslides.  Our research group is among the world leaders in developing tools for slope stability analysis and prediction of the failure mechanism, failure characteristics, velocity and runout area of potential landslides.  We intend to continue this development activity.  A part of the proposal is an effort to integrate my research with that of my new colleague, Professor E. Eberhardt.  A number of specific topics building on previous work are described in the proposal, dealing with failure mechanisms of complex landslides, transition from solid to fluid behaviour and improvement and calibration of runout models.  We also propose to address new subjects, including magnitude-frequency relationships for landslides and the mechanics of catastrophic erosion.  An important part of our research is and will continue to be, investigation of landslide case histories in the field.  Our research is intended to provide new, reliable tools for practitioners.  Our students become highly qualified specialists in the field of geological engineering.