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Preliminary investigation of some large landslides triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, Sichuan Province, China

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Abstract

The M s 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake or “Great Sichuan Earthquake” occurred at 14:28 p.m. local time on 12 May 2008 in Sichuan Province, China. Damage by earthquake-induced landslides was an important part of the total earthquake damage. This report presents preliminary observations on the Hongyan Resort slide located southwest of the main epicenter, shallow mountain surface failures in Xuankou village of Yingxiu Town, the Jiufengchun slide near Longmenshan Town, the Hongsong Hydro-power Station slide near Hongbai Town, the Xiaojiaqiao slide in Chaping Town, two landslides in Beichuan County-town which destroyed a large part of the town, and the Donghekou and Shibangou slides in Qingchuan County which formed the second biggest landslide lake formed in this earthquake. The influences of seismic, topographic, geologic, and hydro-geologic conditions are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The first author acknowledges financial support from MEXT of Japan (No. 18403003, representative: F.W. Wang) for the first two investigations in the disaster area caused by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. On 26 July to 3 August 2008, he made a third investigation with financial support from a scientific research fund for the Sudden-disaster investigation (Representative: K. Konagai) from MEXT of Japan. The financial support from National Fundamental Research Program of China (973 Program) (NoF2008CB425801) was appreciated. The authors deeply appreciated discussions with Prof. K. Konagai of University of Tokyo, Prof. S. Tsuchiya of Shizuoka University, Japan, and Prof. X.Y. Wu of Southwest Jiaotong University, China. The information from the local people who experienced the great disasters is extremely important for the report. Comments by Mauri McSaveney and Grant Dellow were deeply appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Disaster Prevention Research InstituteI, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan

    Fawu Wang

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, No. 111, North Part 1, Second Circle Road, Chengdu, 610031, China

    Qiangong Cheng

  3. National Landslide Information Center, US Geological Survey, MS 966, Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO, 80225, USA

    Lynn Highland

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa, 920-1192, Japan

    Masakatsu Miyajima & Changgen Yan

  5. School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1037, Luoyu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Huabin Wang

Authors
  1. Fawu Wang
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  2. Qiangong Cheng
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  3. Lynn Highland
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  4. Masakatsu Miyajima
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  5. Huabin Wang
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  6. Changgen Yan
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Correspondence to Fawu Wang.

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Wang, F., Cheng, Q., Highland, L. et al. Preliminary investigation of some large landslides triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, Sichuan Province, China. Landslides 6, 47–54 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-009-0141-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-009-0141-z

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