Conversation between you and your class mate after a recent landslide which completely displayed yor family home into nerby river
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Answer:
Landslides
Learn if landslides, including debris flows, could occur in your area by contacting local officials, your state geological survey or department of natural resources, or the geology department of a state university. Get information on specific locations that are vulnerable to landslides. Request a professional referral for a detailed landslidevulnerability analysis of your property, and take corrective measures if necessary.
AWARENESS MESSAGES
Why talk about landslides?
Landslides are a serious geologic hazard that occurs in almost all 50 states. Every year in the United States, they cause significant damages and 25 to 50 deaths. Globally, landslides cause billions of dollars in damages and thousands of deaths and injuries each year.
Debris flows—“muddy” or “liquefied” landslides—are most destructive when they are caused by volcanic eruptions. A spectacular example of a massive debris flow resulted from the 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. Areas near the bases of many volcanoes in the Cascade Mountain Range of California, Oregon, and Washington are at risk from the same type of flows during future volcanic eruptions.
Wildfires can also lead to destructive debris flows. In July 1994, a severe wildfire swept Storm King Mountain in Colorado, denuding the slopes of vegetation. Heavy rains on the mountain in September resulted in numerous debris flows, one of which blocked Interstate 70 and threatened to dam the Colorado River.
What are landslides, and what causes them?
The term “landslide” describes many types of downhill earth movements ranging from rapidly moving catastrophic rock avalanches and debris flows in mountainous regions to more slowly moving earth slides. Some landslides move slowly and cause damage gradually, whereas others move so rapidly that they can destroy property and take lives suddenly and unexpectedly. Gravity is generally the force driving landslide movement. Factors that trigger landslide movement include heavy rainfall, erosion, poor construction practices, freezing and thawing, earthquake shaking, and volcanic eruptions. Landslides are typically associated with periods of heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt and tend to worsen the effects of flooding. Areas burned by forest and brush fires are particularly susceptible to landslides.