This piece of legislation, initially proposed by Representative Suzan DelBene (D-WA), establishing a National Landslide Hazards Reduction Program in the USGS<\/a>, with the aim of improving identification and understanding of landslide risks; of protecting communities; of saving lives and reducing property losses; and of improving emergency preparedness.\u00a0 This is a tremendous and very important step forwards, finally recognising at a federal level landslides as a significant hazard and establishing the means to start to improve their management.<\/p>\n The congress.gov website has a nice summary of the key provisions of the National Landslide Preparedness Act<\/a>:-<\/p>\n The USGS shall, among other things<\/em><\/p>\n The USGS may provide grants to research, map, assess, and collect data on landslide hazards.<\/em><\/p>\n The National Science Foundation may provide grants to eligible entities for landslide research.<\/em><\/p>\n The USGS shall establish the 3D Elevation Program and the 3D Elevation Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee, and (2) may make grants and enter into cooperative agreements to facilitate the improvement of nationwide coverage of 3D elevation data.<\/em><\/p>\n There is a host of good things about this, including the development of a national strategy and the establishment of a LIDAR based programme to generate digital elevation data.<\/p>\n The timing is very pertinent, as earlier this week a really significant rainfall event occurred in the Pacific Northwest, triggering many landslides.\u00a0 The most significant appears to have occurred close to Dodson in Oregon, where a large debris flow killed a motorist, Jennifer Moore.\u00a0 A search is underway to try to recover her remains.\u00a0 Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office<\/span> has tweeted this image of the site<\/a>:-<\/p>\n\n
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