WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:01.339 --> 00:00:14.300 [Music] 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:44.670 Peter Lyttle: Almost every citizen in the United States could potentially experience 00:00:44.670 --> 00:00:48.260 a landslide. 00:00:48.260 --> 00:00:54.051 Types of Landslides 00:00:54.051 --> 00:00:57.090 Peter Lyttle: Landslides come in quite a few different flavors, and even with our small 00:00:57.090 --> 00:01:01.420 group of 20 here at the USGS, we have some of the world experts in each of the different 00:01:01.420 --> 00:01:02.660 kinds of landslides. 00:01:02.660 --> 00:01:09.279 There are very slow-moving, deep-seated landslides, which don’t threaten lives too often, but 00:01:09.279 --> 00:01:12.139 they can do a huge amount of damage to property. 00:01:12.139 --> 00:01:15.310 If you imagine your house slowly moving down a hill. 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:19.849 We have very fast moving landslides, which are a danger to human beings. 00:01:19.849 --> 00:01:21.469 These are called debris flows. 00:01:21.469 --> 00:01:29.119 These move at 30 miles an hour, and if you imagine sort of a consistency of concrete 00:01:29.119 --> 00:01:33.340 with huge boulders in it rushing at you at 30 miles an hour, you’re not going to get 00:01:33.340 --> 00:01:34.459 out of the way. 00:01:34.459 --> 00:01:38.090 These kill a few people around the world every year. 00:01:38.090 --> 00:01:42.899 And finally there are rock falls, which probably are the kind of landslide that most people 00:01:42.899 --> 00:01:48.539 are familiar with, when huge boulders fall off of a cliff along the side of a highway 00:01:48.539 --> 00:01:52.639 and smash a car. 00:01:52.639 --> 00:01:55.679 USGS Science 00:01:55.679 --> 00:02:03.069 Sue Cannon: Within the Landslides Hazards Program we have three specific tasks. 00:02:03.069 --> 00:02:07.349 One is developing tools and methodologies that can be used to characterize landslide 00:02:07.349 --> 00:02:08.700 hazards. 00:02:08.700 --> 00:02:15.760 The second is to respond to landslide disasters, to provide expertise and assessments. 00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:20.900 And then the third is outreach to try to educate the public about landslides and landslide 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:22.990 hazards as best we can. 00:02:22.990 --> 00:02:27.540 Did You See It? 00:02:27.540 --> 00:02:34.519 David Applegate: The Landslide Program is looking at an application called, “Did You 00:02:34.519 --> 00:02:40.450 See It?,” in which members of the public can come to our website and give descriptions 00:02:40.450 --> 00:02:43.349 of the landslide and the characteristics of it. 00:02:43.349 --> 00:02:50.079 They hopefully will even be able to post photographs of it and we’ll start to build a database 00:02:50.079 --> 00:02:52.329 that will be very useful to us scientifically. 00:02:52.329 --> 00:02:58.890 Peter Lyttle: Hundreds of thousands of landslides occur in the United States every year, of 00:02:58.890 --> 00:03:02.110 every imaginable scale. 00:03:02.110 --> 00:03:08.159 We would like to ultimately someday have an inventory of all of those landslides. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:12.830 Debris Flow Early Warning System 00:03:12.830 --> 00:03:19.020 David Applegate: In the area of landslides, we’ve been working with partners in the 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:24.049 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service on a Debris Flow 00:03:24.049 --> 00:03:25.500 Early Warning System. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:30.370 Pedro Restrepo: I’m really proud of how this joint collaboration between NOAA and 00:03:30.370 --> 00:03:36.829 the USGS has resulted in a warning system that is helping the people in the communities 00:03:36.829 --> 00:03:43.780 that are susceptible to debris flows, like in southern California, to be safer and to 00:03:43.780 --> 00:03:44.780 be more resilient. 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:49.890 Sue Cannon: Within this warning system, the Weather Service takes the role of issuing 00:03:49.890 --> 00:03:54.349 the forecasts and measuring what sort of rainfall is occurring. 00:03:54.349 --> 00:03:58.430 And then they have the system for disseminating watches and warnings. 00:03:58.430 --> 00:04:03.489 The USGS brings to the table our knowledge about what sort of rainfall conditions will 00:04:03.489 --> 00:04:07.189 lead to the landslides and what areas would be the most susceptible. 00:04:07.189 --> 00:04:14.109 Pedro Restrepo: The Debris Flow Warning System involves the National Weather Service to use 00:04:14.109 --> 00:04:20.039 models developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, and in combination with our own observations 00:04:20.039 --> 00:04:28.099 using high-resolution radar and weather forecasts, to tell the community and emergency managers 00:04:28.099 --> 00:04:37.280 what are the areas that are at imminent risk of having a debris flow, which is a mudslide 00:04:37.280 --> 00:04:41.560 or mudflow as they are commonly known. 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:43.389 Tips for Homeowners 00:04:43.389 --> 00:04:49.849 Peter Lyttle: A number of USGS scientists produced a book in association with the American 00:04:49.849 --> 00:04:53.320 Planning Association just a few years ago. 00:04:53.320 --> 00:04:59.650 This takes you step-by-step through some very simple procedures that you can do to make 00:04:59.650 --> 00:05:03.610 your family safer and your community safer. 00:05:03.610 --> 00:05:07.599 A National Hazard 00:05:07.599 --> 00:05:13.229 Peter Lyttle: This is truly a national problem. 00:05:13.229 --> 00:05:17.759 It’s a problem that’s affecting our economy. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:22.710 It’s causing billions of dollars in damage every year. 00:05:22.710 --> 00:05:28.360 And like many other natural hazards, they actually do endanger people’s lives occasionally, 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:29.870 and we need to sit up and pay attention. 00:05:29.870 --> 00:05:36.060 Sue Cannon: The Landslide Program has a website where we provide information about our research 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:40.520 or our ongoing projects, and that is landslides.usgs.gov. 00:05:40.520 --> 00:06:11.150 [Music]