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Landslide Impacts

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

Consequences experienced by natural or human systems as a result of landslide activity are referred to as landslide impacts. These can result from direct physical damage or indirect disruption of economic and social activities. Impacts may be experienced immediately at the time of the initial event or be manifest some time afterward. They may be confined solely to the landslide site or be experienced off-site, at some distance from the landslide. The degree of impact can range in magnitude and in the extreme cases can result in human disasters and catastrophes.

Physical and human context

Landslides are defined here according to Cruden and Varnes (1996) and Dikau et al. (1996) as “the movement of a mass of rock, earth, or debris down a slope.” However, landslide impactis a much more difficult concept to define because it is subjective and depends to a large extent on the system under consideration (whether physical or human) and the values placed on components of those...

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Correspondence to Michael James Crozier .

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Crozier, M.J., Preston, N., Glade, T. (2013). Landslide Impacts. In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_189

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