Seismically Induced Slope Instabilities and the Corresponding Treatments:the Case of a Road in the Wenchuan Earthquake Hit Region

On May 12, 2008, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province resulted in great loss of life and properties.Besides, abundant landslides and slope failures were triggered in the most seriously hit areas and caused disastrous damages to infrastructures and public facilities.Moreover, abundant unstable slopes caused by the quake have the potential to cause damages for a considerable long period of time.The variety of these slopes and the corresponding treatments are connected with the topographical and geological conditions of the sites.It is decided to document and identify some of these major slope instabilities caused by the earthquake and their treatments.The paper shows the condition of a road in Dujiangyan through in situ explorations.The case history showed significant implications to the reconstruction of the quake-hit regions and future disaster prevention and management works.

A Remote Sensing-based Analysis on the Impact of Wenchuan Earthquake on the Core Value of World Nature Heritage Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary

In this study,we used remotely sensed data,GIS modeling,and statistical methods to evaluate the damage caused by the Wenchuan Earthquake (May 12,2008) to the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat in the World Nature Heritage Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary (WHSGPS) in China.A landscape ecological analysis found increases of landscape heterogeneity,complexity,and fragmentation in the giant panda habitat after the earthquake.A terrain analysis found that slope and elevation are directly associated with the distribution of the damaged areas.As slope and elevation increase,the size of the damaged area keeps increase until to a peak,and then starts to drop.The total area of the damaged vegetation in our study area is 114.26 km 2,accounting for 3.78% of the study area;30.46% of that 114.26 km 2 is located in the Core Zone of WHSGPS.There are 18.57km 2 of the damaged vegetation located in the identified suitable giant panda habitat,accounting for 1.75% of the total area of suitable giant panda habitats in the study area.Based on these findings,we conclude that the Wenchuan Earthquake does not have significant impact on the WHSGPS as a whole.

The Contrast Study of Precursor Anomalies before the M_S 8. 0 Wenchuan Earthquake

The contrast research results show that the number of items and stations with imminent, short and medium term precursor anomalies for the Wenchuan M_S 8. 0 earthquake is less than that of the Menglian earthquake. The number of anomalies and stations associated with the Wenchuan earthquake increased in the early stage of the short-term range,as opposed to the later period for the Menglian and Lijiang earthquakes. Most of the medium term anomalies occurred two to three years before the Wenchuan earthquake,when the number of anomaly stations and items was eleven,and a great change appeared in the observation values in about half of the stations ( items ) . However,for the Menglian earthquake,medium term anomalies happened one to two years before the earthquake, the number of abnormal stations and items reached 20,and a sharp change appeared in the observation values six months to one year before the earthquake in about 30 percent of the stations or items. In the epicenter and the nearby area,the macroscopic abnormalities started 3 years before the Wenchuan earthquake and lasted intermittently until 1 month before the earthquake. Within 2 percent of the total area of the province,the macroscopic abnormalities accounted for 30 to 50 percent of the total number of anomalies of the Province. For the Xingtai,Tangshan,Haicheng,Songpan earthquakes,the macroscopic anomalies started two to three months before,or on the very day of the earthquakes. The common feature of the precursors between the Wenchuan and other strong earthquakes is the appearance of tremendous changes in a certain number of observation values of anomalies in the mid and short terms before all these earthquakes.