Best Possible Practices in

Landslide Risk Reduction

 Content

 Introduction
 Why many of the commonly applied Landslide Risk
reduction methods are not that successful...?

 Possible Best practices in LS/CF Risk

Reduction

 What to do if you live near a steep hill

 Best practices are mainly based on community
based approaches

 Community empowerment program through public

education, awareness and training to encourage community
participation in LRR.

Non Structural
 Community based landslide hazard zonation and
preparedness planning.

 Landslide monitoring, forecasting, communication and early

warning systems designed through simple and low cost
technology, and developed taking the lessons from the
indigenous and/or local knowledge by the local participation
of the local experts and operators, using the local materials.

 Application of simple structural measures. Structural

 1. Empowering the community by Community based Education,
Awareness and Training
and forming vigilance groups and community task force

Simple handbooks, posters and

leaflets and guidelines

Public need to be informed about the nature of hazards to which they are
exposed, their vulnerability, and possible protection measures available.
Such programes has to be designed to enable the
communities to understand/identify the;
 Simple concepts, mechanism and causes of landslides.
 Old landslides and landslide deposits.
 Early landslide symptoms.
 Potential and dangerous areas such as rupture, flow
paths (mostly valleys) and depositional areas (mostly flat
areas).
 How to identify safe sites for new construction.
 How to avoid dangerous situations and self evacuation
when a critical situation arises.

 Existing community use such knowledge for their safety,

 Future generation - Use to avoid such dangerous places when
they build their houses in future.
a. simple concepts, mechanism and causes of landslides

Rain (Trigger)
When critical combination of causative
factors are met with a triggering event

Runoff

Infiltration

Slip Surface

Resisting forces < Driving forces

(Shear trength) (Shear stress)
b. old landslide areas…..! c. LS deposits that they live on

Residual
Soil

Colluvium soils (old landslide

deposits)
 d. Common landslide symptoms

Common ground features to identify potential landslide areas

e. damage zones of a landslide
 Rupture Zone

Flow Path

Depositional area

Slope Area Flat Area

Jayathissa, 2014
 Mostly;
Rupture occur in Slopes/hilly areas
Flow path along valleys
Deposition mostly in flat areas

Hiroshima Debris Flow Disaster 2014

 f. How to identify safe sites for new construction

Aware them to avoid

 Rupture, flow or depositional areas of old, new or potential LS
terrains (areas). Can be identified by terrain features or by
landslide hazard zonation – High hazard areas.
 Colluvium deposits, terrain with rock boulders, water logged
or saturated areas.
 Close areas of unstable hill slopes, escarpments – upper or
down slopes.
 Terrain with high slope angles, very irregular topography
 Unstable high cuts
 Fractured rock masses
 Individual housing units in ad-hock locations
 And Use

 Residual soil terrains

 Low slope angles or flat areas within the slope
 Hill tops or close proximity to hilltpos, Spur of the ridges
 Flat areas away from valleys, high slopes and escarpments
 Areas with simple topography, regular slopes
 Practice well planned housing scheams with systematic
drainage
 And follow simple techniques to avoid cutting failure damages
Encourage housing schemes instead of individual
units on slopes

Hantane Housing Scheme

2. Community-Based Hazard Map and
preparedness planning

Community-based
landslide hazard
map and evacuation
route, indicating
zones of hazard
levels:
 Red–high
 Yellow-Medium
 Green-low

Preparation of
community based
maps
 3. Community based Monitoring, Forecasting and Early Warning

Sophisticated+ low cost EW

systems
Sophisticated landslide monitoring and early warning system
Simple Structural Measures
(techniques)

Mainly for Managing

Cutting Failures
 1. Managing the slope drainage and landuse

Whatever the measure you apply, this is an essential and

compulsory
 2. Designing slope parallel buildings, simple or
engineered, with minimum disturbance to the slope
 2. Designing slope parallel buildings, simple or
engineered, with minimum disturbance to the slope

d>h
 3. Stepping the cut behind buildings

Do not forget to remove this tree & to

provide lined drain

Deep failure surface go below

the bottom level of the cutting
Prepare guidelines for stable cut heights
according to soil types
4. Keeping enough space to spread the debris

Do not forget to remove this tree & to

provide lined drain even you keep
enough distance

Distance > Cut height

 In summary, reshape the slope with terrace,
drainage and keeping enough distance to cut slope

Lined drain to prevent infiltration

d>h

Turf or any erosion control measure

Design longer side of the

building parallel to the
contours
5. Strengthen the Back wall

Lintol and Sill Beam

6. Reinforced wall or fence as a toe barrier

Even rock boulders can be used as toe barriers

7. Fence with a tension net using discarded materials
such as rail steel, woods etc.

Even some small tree can be used as toe barrier fence

8. Managing the alignment of houses in a slope

Jayathissa, 2014
9. Change the orientation of buildings and location of rooms

BR

BR

BR

BR
 10. Changing the shape of
the back wall

BR

BR
Same time, keep some
distance and make it
more stronger
11. Retaining structures
 Low cost retaining structures

Used barrels Bamboos

Used tires
However, it must not be misunderstood that only the
approaches explained above are sufficient for a
successful risk management.

These are only a few reasonable solution to the

areas where high cost technologies are lacking.

It is strongly advised that such simple approaches

must be complemented by the state of the art
technology to avoid any misleading situations
whenever and wherever possible.
 Why many of the commonly applied Landslide Risk
reduction methods are not that successful...?

 Most of the landslide risk reduction activities are mainly based

on the engineered concepts and technical approaches.
 Many such approaches are inappropriate or impossible to
apply over large areas or impractical manly due to size,
location etc.
 Many parts of hill slopes where people have already settled
are in developing countries- Both technical expertise and
financial resources are extremely limited.
 Such measures are costly and time consuming and can not be
implemented easily by local people.
 Finally, such measures are not simple and does not always
appropriately address the socio-cultural, economical and
physiological aspects of the communities living in those areas.
 Avoidance (no-build or open spaces)
Discourage to
live in landslide
prone areas such
as rupture, flow
paths and
depositional
areas.

Encourage
to select the
safest (best)
place in the
land (Hilltops,
ridges, spur).
Thanks