Landslides cause significant loss of life in less developed countries. Rural road construction and mining activities are particularly prone to landslides, with inadequate planning, construction practices, maintenance, and regulation contributing to instability. Reducing landslide impacts requires long-term political commitment, resources, understanding of causal factors, qualified professionals, a safety culture, enforcement of regulations, and effective planning.

1. Landslides and sustainable development:
managing the cost of landslides in less
developed countries
Dave Petley
University of Sheffield

2. Chamoli debris flow, 7 February 2021

3. Chamoli debris flow, Feb 2021

4. Planet Labs SkySat image

7. Fatal landslides and major dams
2008 - 2013

8. Locations of fatal dam landslides
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Number
of
deaths
Number
of
landslides

9. Contour map of the density of existing large dams
Existing dams are concentrated in medium but not in very high mountain
areas
Few dams here
Large dam density
UN large dam database (2012)

10. Number of fatal landslides by region
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
Cumulative
number
of
fatal
landslides
Year
Australia and New Zealand C. America Central and West Asia
Caribbean Africa E. Asia
Europe Melanesia N. America
S. America S. Asia S.E. Asia

11. Rainfall fatal landslide distribution

12. For example:
Zimbabwe, 2020
NASA and Planet Labs

13. Global landslide impacts
Challenging
environment
Low income
High
vulnerability
Increased
landslides

14. Construction fatal landslide distribution

15. Hill cutting fatal landslide distribution

16. So…
Landslide fatalities
concentrated in less
developed countries
For rainfall fatal
landslides
hotspots in Asia
Mining landslides
even more
concentrated
There is
sometimes a
cultural element
too, e.g. mud
collection

17. Two exemplars –mining and rural roads

18. The tyranny of mountain roads

19. The tyranny of mountain roads

20. The tyranny of mountain roads

21. The rural road landslide chain
Alignment
selection
• Inadequate alignment selection increases likelihood and consequence of landslides
Poor
construction
• Poor construction practice leads to increased landslide initiation and poor retention of
landslides along the alignment
Maintenance
• Inadequate maintenance (e.g. management of drainage systems) leads to increased
landslide activity
Land use
• Land use changes in response to road construction - for example deforestation - can
increase landslide susceptibility
Population
change
• Population relocation to live alongside the road alignment in order to take advantage of
economic opportunities
Emergency
response
• Ineffective emergency response leads to low recovery rates of victims, compounded by
long journey times to medical assistance
Medical
treatment
• Low quality medical treatment leads to higher rates of mortality from injuries inflicted by
landslides

22. Five key lessons
• Route alignment is key – assume a
road is a community
• Engineer properly - low cost roads
are not no cost roads
• Drainage, drains, draining
• Maintain and repair
• Corruption is the enemy

23. Mining fatal landslide distribution

24. The impacts of mining
Next five years,
mining will
generate 95-120
billion cubic
metres of tailings
Total tailings
storage = 640
billion cubic
metres by
2025
c. 16,000 active
tailings storage
facilities
c.32,000 major
tailings storage
facilities

25. The 2019 Muri tailings failure, India

26. Brumadinho, Brazil, January 2019

27. But not just tailings: the 2013
Jiama/Gyama landslide in Tibet, China
• 29 March 2013 at 06:00
• 2 million m3 landslide
• Travel distance = 3 km
• 83 fatalities

28. May 2012: Waste being end-tipped
onto an unprepared, steep slope
October 2012

29. March and April 2013

30. Mineral extraction – a growing burden
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
Cumulative
number
of
fatal
mining
landslides
Year
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
Cumulative
number
of
fatalities
from
mining
landslides
Year
Fatal landslides Fatalities from landslides

31. The role of regulation and location
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
Cumulative
number
of
landslides
Year
illegal mining
legal mining
mining (unknown)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
Cumulative
number
of
landslides
Year
Africa
S. Asia
SE Asia
East Asia

32. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Number
of
landslides
Year
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Median
size
of
the
fatal
landslides
Year
Annual numbers and median size

33. Levels of mining activity
0.00E+00
5.00E+07
1.00E+08
1.50E+08
2.00E+08
2.50E+08
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Total
mining
production
(tonnes)
Year
R² = 0.8171
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1.40E+08 1.90E+08 2.40E+08
Number
of
fatal
mining
landslides
Total mining production (tonnes)

34. The unique (?) case of Myanmar
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
Cumulative
number
of
fatal
mining
landslides
Year

35. Jade mining in Myanmar The Hpakant area

36. Causation
The move to “democracy” in 2015
Corruption
Poverty
Technology
Climate and geology

37. Requirements to reduce landslide
losses in poor countries 1
Long term, high level political commitment to address
slope safety
Availability of resource
Understanding of the causes of the problem

38. Requirements to reduce landslide
losses in poor countries 2
Availability of appropriately qualified professionals.
A culture of safety
The capacity to enforce regulation
Effective planning processes

39. Conclusion
• Dave Petley
• Vice-President, Research
and Innovation
• Twitter:
@davepetley
• Blog:
Search “landslide blog”
• Email:
d.n.petley@sheffield.ac.uk