A number of different landslide inventories exist within Australia, and each uniquely addresses a specific purpose. These databases range in scale and detail, and although some similarities and a number of common themes are apparent between databases, the method in which information is organised and described varies considerably. This means information cannot be readily compared or aggregated with other sources and it is possible there is already duplication of effort in this area.

The cost of landslide is underestimated in Australia because the impact and loss associated with these events are not readily reported or captured. There is no reliable source of data which highlights landslide cost to communities and explains who currently pays for the impacts and associated costs. The aim of this document is to investigate and analyse landslide costs within a Local Government Area (LGA) in order to highlight the varied landslide associated costs met by the local government, state traffic and rail authorities and the public. It is anticipated this may assist in developing a baseline awareness of the range of landslide costs that are experienced at a local level in Australia. Local government authorities across Australia are required to manage and mitigate landslide hazards. The Illawarra region of New South Wales (NSW) is one example of an area in Australia continuously affected by slope failure, often resulting in damage to property or infrastructure as well as occasional injuries and fatalities. Landslide losses are described for the region of Wollongong in NSW using a series of case studies to highlight the different types of landslide cost met by different parties, the variations in the landslide types that occur and the different cost components arising from them. This approach was chosen due to variations across the quality, availability and consistency of data. It was found that many generic natural hazard cost models are inappropriate for determining landslide costs because of the differences in the types of landslide movement and damage. Further work is recommended to develop a cost data model suitable for capturing consistent landslide cost data. Better quantification of landslide cost is essential to allow comparisons to be made with other natural hazard events at appropriate levels. This may allow for more informed policy development and decision making across all levels.

It is impractical for a single agency in Australia to hold responsibility for maintaining a national landslide database. Geoscience Australia has successfully demonstrated the benefits of adopting information management strategies as one solution in bringing local, regional and national scale landslide data together. In the first time that networked service oriented interoperability has been applied to a natural hazards domain, Australia now has an up-to-date central landslide database that makes full use of diverse data across three levels of government . The approach is centred upon a 'common data model' that addresses aspects of landslides captured by different agencies. The methodology brings four distinct components together: a landslide application schema; a landslide domain model; web service implementations and a user interface. Sharing and exchanging data more efficiently through an interoperable approach ensures that full value is made of available information, and that responsibility for collecting and maintaining this data is shared across all agencies. Specific-purpose data not only continues to serve the needs of individual database custodians, but also now serves a broader need. Such a system establishes the foundation for a very powerful and coordinated information resource in Australia through its ability to collate and characterise large volumes of information, and provides a suitable basis for greater investment in data collection. At a minimum the pilot project provides Australia with a framework for a centralised national landslide inventory, which can connect other available landslide databases. There is also considerable capacity for this approach to provide State Governments with a simple way to compile and maintain their own state-wide databases, and to extend the approach across other natural hazard databases and integrate data from other domains.

Did you know that landslides kill more people in Australia than earthquakes. Using these activities, encourage your students to understand landslide hazards and how to reduce their own risks. This education resource consists of: - 44 page booklet - 11 reproducible activitities - suggested answers Please note: this booklet does not contain teacher notes. Suitable for secondary levels 7-12

Geoscience Australia has implemented state of the art information management methodologies to connect disparate landslide inventory databases into a single virtual database in recognition of the need to improve Australia's current collective knowledge on landslides and to ensure landslide information is useful and relevant as well as accessible and discoverable. The methodology adopted was driven by the need for a nationally consistent approach to landslide data collection in order to develop a sound knowledge base on landslide hazard and mitigation. The approach takes into account the variation in data formats and level of detail across existing landslide databases in Australia. The new Australian Landslide Database (ALD) is a joint initiative across local, state and national levels and promotes a culture of coordinating, sharing, aggregating and making information captured at different scales widely available. The approach enables independent database custodians throughout Australia to share selected pieces of information with others, while maintaining full ownership, management and the format of their data. This allows all levels of government, geotechnical professionals, emergency managers, land use planners, academics and the public to simultaneously search and query diverse landslide inventory databases in real time via a single standardised website and view results consistently. Users have up-to-date information continually at their fingertips and access to available multimedia. The ALD has the capability to display site specific details as well as present aggregated information defined by the user. Search results can be displayed as reports, graphs, maps, statistics or tables, and data can be queried against background datasets such as rainfall, geology and geomorphology. There is no limit to the number of landslide databases that can be connected to the ALD. cont'd. See attached document

Natural hazards have an impact on every Australian State and Territory. These hazards include bushfires, cyclones, earthquakes, floods, landslides, severe weather, tsunami and volcanoes. These phenomena threaten lives and damage private and public assets, as well as disrupt water, power, transport and communication services. These hazards and their associated impacts also can seriously affect employment, public administration and incomes to industry, agriculture and commerce.

On the 30th September 2009 a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck West Sumatra in the Padang and Pariaman regions. It caused widespread damage to buildings and resulted and an estimated 1,117 fatalities. Thankfully the event was not accompanied by a tsunami that could have had additional devastating impacts and a greatly increased mortality. Under its mandate the AIFDR responded to the earthquake event with the objective of deriving an understanding of the factors that had contributed to outcome. It supported a team of Indonesian and international engineers and scientists who collected and analysed damage information that could subsequently be used for future disaster risk reduction in West Sumatra and Indonesia more broadly. The activity was jointly led by the Centre for Disaster Mitigation at the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Geoscience Australia. This report provides a background to the region, describes the nature of the earthquake and its impacts, details the survey activity and outlines the significant outcomes that has come from it. Importantly, it makes several recommendations to assist in the regional reconstruction after the event and to guide future development in the Padang region and Indonesia more generally.

The cost of landslide is underestimated in Australia because their impact and loss are not readily reported or captured. There is no reliable source of data which highlights landslide cost to communities and explains who currently pays for the hazard and how much costs are. The aim of this document is to investigate and analyse landslide costs within a Local Government Area (LGA) in order to highlight the varied landslide associated costs met by the local government, state traffic and rail authorities and the public. It is anticipated this may assist in developing a baseline awareness of the range of landslide costs that are experienced at a local level in Australia. Initial estimates in this study indicate that cumulative costs associated with some landslide sites are well beyond the budget capacity of a local government to manage. Furthermore, unplanned remediation works can significantly disrupt the budget for planned mitigation works over a number of years. Landslide costs also continue to be absorbed directly by individual property owners as well as by infrastructure authorities and local governments. This is a marked distinction from how disaster costs which arise from other natural hazard events, such as flood, bushfire, cyclone and earthquake are absorbed at a local level. It was found that many generic natural hazard cost models are inappropriate for determining landslide costs because of the differences in the types of landslide movement and damage. Further work is recommended to develop a cost data model suitable for capturing consistent landslide cost data. Better quantification of landslide cost is essential to allow for comparisons to be made with other natural hazard events at appropriate levels. This may allow for more informed policy development and decision making across all levels.

Legacy product - no abstract available

This dataset is a spatial represention of a database of landslides occurring within Australia, based on published and unpublished information and field observations. The database is under constant development.