Predicting Landslides

Predicting Landslides

Published January 18, 2018

Onscreen: This week, a series of landslides in southern California killed at least 17 and injured dozens.

David Montgomery: What characterizes a landslide is a piece of the hillside detaching from the rest of the hillside and moving independently

Onscreen: The area was at high risk after wildfires stripped the hills of trees and shrubs.

Montgomery: Essentially what was driving the slides down southern California, you have a landscape that got really intense rainfall right after an intense burn

Onscreen: Burnt soil couldn’t absorb water well, leading to flash floods and rapid erosion.

Onscreen: This landslide was the worst in the us since 2014 when 49 people were killed in Oso, Wa.

Onscreen: So can scientists help predict landslides? They’re using trucks full of soil and the world’s largest landslide spillway to decipher the recipes for disaster.

Richard Iverson: We have learned a great deal from being able to witness these things hundreds of times over.

Onscreen: Scientists also use radar to measure small movements in the earth’s surface in areas prone to landslides, to predict landslides like the one in Preonzo, Switzerland in 2012.

Lorenz Meier: A few hours before the event, when small rock falls set in, the area was evacuated, the roads were closed, and everyone was just waiting for the big event to set in.

Onscreen: With thousands of deaths from landslides each year around the world, these advances can’t come fast enough.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Digital Producer

Arlo Perez

Editorial Review

Julia Cort, Ari Daniel

© WGBH Educational Foundation 2018

MEDIA CREDITS

Visuals & Videography

Santa Barbara County Fire Department
Pond5
PixelDust

Music

­APM

POSTER IMAGE

(main image: California Landslide, 2018)

Santa Barbara County Fire Department