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Managing Fragile Regions pp 121–142Cite as

Characteristics of Earthquakes in Mountain Areas and Post-earthquake Management

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Abstract

Using the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technique and remote-sensing images and aerial photographs collected from the Wenchuan earthquake region, this chapter analyzes the occurrence of geo-hazards and their correlations with the distance from the co-seismic fault, slope steepness, elevation, and rock type. Our findings show that the geo-hazards triggered by earthquakes are distributed along co-seismic fault and rivers. Specifically, geo-hazards tend to concentrate in areas near the hanging wall of co-seismic fault more than in those near the footwall. The slope’s steepness is also a key factor deciding the development of quake-induced geo-hazards, since most of the latter are distributed at the mountain areas within the range of 20–50°. In addition, geo-hazards are found to have a close relationship to the elevation and micro-landform and that thin ridge, isolated or full-face space mountains are most sensitive to seismic waves, and thus have a striking amplification effect on geo-hazards. Lastly, we suggest that the above findings may serve as an important basis for the reconstruction of earthquake-hit mountain regions.

Translated by Deng Lin, Tongji University; scientific editing by Rongxing Guo. The last section of this paper belongs to that of a research group led by Liu Shiqing.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Literature in this regard can be found in Bao et al. (2005), Keefer (2000), Jibson et al. (2000), Mahdavifar et al. (2006), and Wang et al. (1999).

  2. 2.

    The sources of the data on remote-sensing images and aerial photographs used in this chapter are from: (1) the Japanese ALOS satellite image data (resolution is 10 m); (2) the Land Resources Aero-geophysical Survey Center of China (resolution is 0.5 m); and (3) the authors’ collections.

  3. 3.

    See, for example, Abrahamson and Somerville (1996), Abrahamson and Silva (1997), Boore et al. (1997), Campbell (1997), Sadigh et al. (1997), Lin et al. (1999), and Yu and Gao (2001).

  4. 4.

    The fore-mountain fault of the Longmen Mountain shows surface rupture (He et al. 2008).

  5. 5.

    This section is completed by a research group. Shiqing Liu (Institute of Regional Economics and the Western Development Research Center, Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences) is the Team Leader The members include Xu Ying-ming (Beijing University of Technology), Li Mingquan, Guo Lan, Wang Xinqian, Liu Yuyang, Xu Xueshu, La Mingying, Liu Nannan (Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences); Pan Shulin, Guo Zongfeng (Yibin College, Sichuan), Li Hechao, Chen Haijun, Sun Ningning, Yu Xiangke (Sichuan Institute of Land Planning Survey); Deng Lin (Tongji University, Shanghai); Deng Lixin (Chengdu Municipal People’s Government Research Office, Sichuan); He Yinwu (Chengdu Municipal Tourism Bureau, Sichuan); Bian Zaibin (Dujiangyan Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Sichuan).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geo-hazards Prevention and Geo-environmental Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610059, China

    Runqiu Huang & Weile Li

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  1. Runqiu Huang
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  2. Weile Li
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Correspondence to Runqiu Huang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Science Association of China, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China, People's Republic

    Rongxing Guo

  2. , School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, 20036, District of Columbia, USA

    Carla Freeman

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Huang, R., Li, W. (2011). Characteristics of Earthquakes in Mountain Areas and Post-earthquake Management. In: Guo, R., Freeman, C. (eds) Managing Fragile Regions. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6436-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6436-6_7

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