Recent Landslides

Landslides (2009) 6:153–159 H. P. Sato . E. L. Harp

DOI 10.1007/s10346-009-0147-6
Received: 7 November 2008
Accepted: 10 February 2009 Interpretation of earthquake-induced landslides triggered
Published online: 17 April 2009
© Springer-Verlag 2009 by the 12 May 2008, M7.9 Wenchuan earthquake
in the Beichuan area, Sichuan Province, China using
satellite imagery and Google Earth
Abstract The 12 May 2008 M7.9 Wenchuan earthquake in the (NASA 2006). Historically, Sichuan Province has been damaged
People’s Republic of China represented a unique opportunity for repeatedly by large earthquake-induced landslides.
the international community to use commonly available GIS On 1 June 1786, the Kangding–Luding earthquake (~M7.8,
(Geographic Information System) tools, like Google Earth (GE), to 20 km depth) occurred at the epicenter shown as “B” in Fig. 1 (Dai
rapidly evaluate and assess landslide hazards triggered by the et al. 2005). According to Dai et al. (2005), the historical document
destructive earthquake and its aftershocks. In order to map written by the local governor in the Qing Dynasty indicates that the
earthquake-triggered landslides, we provide details on the applic- earthquake triggered many small slope failures and rock falls in
ability and limitations of publicly available 3-day-post- and pre- and around the epicenter and the fault, and produced a landslide
earthquake imagery provided by GE from the FORMOSAT-2 dam in the main channel of the Dadu River (Fig. 1). Ten days after
(formerly ROCSAT-2; Republic of China Satellite 2). We interpreted the earthquake, the dam was broken and the ensuing flood killed
landslides on the 8-m-resolution FORMOSAT-2 image by GE; as a approximately 100,000 people. On 25 August 1933, the M7.3 Diexi
result, 257 large landslides were mapped with the highest concen- earthquake (C in Fig. 1; USGS 2008) caused landslides that blocked
tration along the Beichuan fault. An estimated density of 0.3 the Min River (Science Museum of China 2008) and destroyed the
landslides/km2 represents a minimum bound on density given the town of Diexi (Tang et al. 1994).
resolution of available imagery; higher resolution data would have
identified more landslides. This is a preliminary study, and further Study area
study is needed to understand the landslide characteristics in The study area, shown by the red rectangle in Fig. 1, is 130 km NE of
detail. Although it is best to obtain landslide locations and the epicenter, where approximately 6 m slip at 8 km depth on the
measurements from satellite imagery having high resolution, it was fault plane was estimated based on finite fault modeling (USGS
found that GE is an effective and rapid reconnaissance tool. 2008). After the earthquake, FORMOSAT-2 (formerly ROCSAT-2;
Republic of China Satellite 2) images were taken of the study area.
Keywords Landslides . Sichuan . Wenchuan . Earthquake . An enlarged view of the study area is also shown in Fig. 2 with
Google Earth . FORMOSAT-2 . SPOT5 . Satellite elevation data from the SRTM3-DEM. Total relief within the study
area (Fig. 2a) is approximately 2,000 m. The black area at the lower
Introduction left margin of the figure is an area of no data.
The M7.9 Wenchuan earthquake of 12 May 2008 in east Sichuan
Province of the People’s Republic of China resulted in at least Method and results
69,185 fatalities. Located at 30.99°N, 103.36°E with a hypocentral The FORMOSAT-2 satellite was launched by Taiwan on 21 May
depth of 19 km, it had an estimated rupture length of more than 2004; it has a sun-synchronous orbit at an elevation of 891 km and
200 km (USGS 2008). Consequently, this earthquake caused passes over Taiwan twice daily. It provides black/white and color
thousands of landslides covering a wide area of 285×20 km. images in 2-m and 8-m resolution (Taiwan National Space
With access to satellite data, the World Wide Web can provide such Organization 2008).
images swiftly. For example, in the case of the 2005 northern On 15 May, the Taiwan Central News Agency reported the
Pakistan earthquake (M7.6) GeoEye Inc. quickly published IKONOS landslides near Beichuan with a FORMOSAT-2 color image (off
images on their Web homepage after the earthquake showing nadir angle=ca. 37°) taken on 14 May. On 20 May, the same
landslides triggered by the earthquake (Une and Kumaki 2007). FORMOSAT-2 color image became available on GE and offered a
On 20 May 2008 Google Earth (GE) published satellite images relatively cloud-free view of the landslide-affected area around
taken on 15 May 2008, after the earthquake. In this study, we Beichuan which was the most devastated area of all areas affected
produced a preliminary map of landslides using images provided by the earthquake. Figure 3 shows the Xinbei School landslide
by GE and estimated their location errors, and we calculated which buried the junior high school in Beichuan, missing at least
landslide density among slope angles considering these errors 1,000 students and teachers (Xinhua 2008). We used the color
using SRTM3 (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 3)-DEM image shown in Fig. 4a to map landslides triggered by the
(Digital Elevation Model) at 90-m resolution, downloaded from earthquake. The image covers approximately 3,015 km2, within a
the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) FTP rectangle 45 km by 67 km in east/west and north/south directions,
site (NASA 2006). respectively. Beichuan is located near the black square in Fig. 4a.

Historical seismicity in the region Landslide interpretation

The epicenter of this earthquake is shown as “A” in Fig. 1, which Landslides triggered by the earthquake were mainly classified as
also shows topography from SRTM30-DEM at 900-m resolution rock falls and rock slides (although many of the larger failures

Landslides 6 • (2009) 153

 Recent Landslides
Fig. 1 Overview of the study area. a
This M7.9 earthquake epicenter (USGS
2008), b epicenter of M7.8 1786
Kangding–Luding earthquake in 1786
(Dai et al. 2005), c the M7.3 Diexi
earthquake epicenter in 1933 (USGS
2008), 1 Chengdu, 2 Beichuan, 3 Mao
Xian, 4 Wenchuan, 5 Min River, 6 Dadu
River. Red frame indicates the study
area of Fig. 2

Fig. 2 Study area. Red double circle

shows Beichuan. a DEM of the study
area, b cloud and no-cloud area is
shown in white and black, respectively

154 Landslides 6 • (2009)

Fig. 3 Landslides that impacted the
city of Beichuan and the Xinbei School
(Xinbei School landslide). Picture was
taken on 26 September, 2008

could also be classified as avalanches) with volumes commonly of clearly observed. Source locations of the landslides were plotted as
several hundred thousand cubic meters. Landslides judged to be red and white dots in Fig. 5a and b, respectively. The red frame
triggered by the earthquake met the following criteria observed on shown in Fig. 5a depicts the area of concentrated landslides. Red
the satellite imagery: (1) deposits were clearly identified at the foot hollow circles and black solid lines in Fig. 5b shows aftershock
of the slope covering roads or other structures or extending into epicenters (USGS 2008) and fault traces (Densmore et al. 2007),
rivers and streams, (2) slope failures showed newly denuded respectively.
vegetation on the slope, (3) slope failures had orange or bright Based on our analysis, a total of 257 landslides were detected.
white contrast as compared to surrounding slopes of pale brown, Because of the image resolution, the smallest landslide that could
(4) slope failures were dark brown in contrast to the surrounding be recognized should have been approximately 8×8 m. However,
pale brown slopes, and/or (5) debris-movement paths could be unless landslides had an enough large area of ca. 500×100 m, we

Fig. 4 a FORMOSAT-2 image plotted on Google™ Earth base, b oblique SPOT5 image taken before the earthquake, c FORMOSAT-2 image covering same area as (b). The
number in (b) and (c) shows same points, and location in Fig. 3 shows same points as the number 1

Landslides 6 • (2009) 155

 Recent Landslides
Fig. 5 a Interpreted landslides (red
dots), b interpreted landslides (white
plots) superimposed on the In-SAR
(Interferometry Synthetic Aperture
Radar) image by Geographical Survey
Institute (2008) and Tobita et al.
(2008). Phase-color (fringe) change
indicates seismic ground deformation
as shown in color index. Aftershock
epicenters in red hollow circle and fault
traces in solid black lines are USGS
(2008) and Densmore et al. (2007),
respectively. Seismotectonic setting is
modified after Dong et al. (2008)

Table 1 Location error between the same landmarks on GE-DEM and SRTM3-DEM. In the table, dE and dN is the easting and northing error component calculated from
(GE location) - (SRTM location)
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Code Error, dE(m) Error, dN(m) Landmark Location on SRTM3-DEM from ArcGIS
Error (m), ðdE Þ2 þ ðdNÞ2
1. 41.7 167.9 173.0 River confluence 31° 51′ 56.70″ N 104° 30′ 36.70″ E
2. -15.7 73.1 74.7 River confluence 32° 1′ 49.58″ N 104° 34′ 39.82″ E
3. 47.7 44.8 65.4 River confluence 31° 36′ 9.96″ N 104° 12′ 51.58″ E
4. -79.0 92.1 121.4 River confluence 31° 53′ 7.57″ N 104° 7′ 51.58″ E
5. -189.1 284.0 341.2 Summit 31° 42′ 24.32″ N 104° 21′ 24.59″ E
6. -99.4 391.6 404.0 Summit 32° 9′ 46.88″ N 104° 14′ 28.94″ E
7. 292.5 -107.9 311.8 Summit 32° 4′ 39.46″ N 104° 22′ 46.65″ E
8. -95.2 47.9 106.6 Summit 31° 58′ 47.69″ N 104° 32′ 26.20″ E
9. -58.8 10.0 59.7 Summit 31° 49′ 12.50″ N 104° 22′ 14.09″ E
10. -68.7 -16.8 70.7 Summit 31° 44′ 35.49″ N 104° 12′ 47.26″ E
11. -63.1 9.9 63.9 Summit 31° 46′ 29.07″ N 104° 18′ 9.93″ E
12. -56.1 79.3 97.1 Summit 31° 50′ 11.05″ N 104° 6′ 15.16″ E
13. -69.8 138.2 154.9 Summit 31° 57′ 46.54″ N 104° 7′ 12.96″ E
14. -97.7 132.9 164.9 Summit 31° 58′ 32.96″ N 104° 11′ 51.05″ E
15. -93.6 165.3 190.0 Summit 31° 55′ 36.96″ N 104° 19′ 20.96″ E
16. -79.4 178.6 195.5 Saddle 31° 39′ 34.53″ N 104° 23′ 3.65″ E
17. 26.8 -6.5 27.6 River meander 31° 37′ 19.76″ N 104° 20′ 44.19″ E
18. 17.6 41.1 44.7 River meander 31° 50′ 40.53″ N 104° 27′ 37.42″ E
19. -2.2 115.8 115.8 River meander 31° 55′ 37.89″ N 104° 14′ 6.66″ E
average -38.2 96.9 146.5

156 Landslides 6 • (2009)

 7
could not determine whether the landslides met this above four
criteria or not. So the average mapped size of landslide is ca. 500×
6
100 m. For this reason, many smaller landslides were not mapped
in the study area.
5

Average landslide spatial density

Frequency
4
To calculate landslide density (landslides/km2), we measured the
cloud-free area of the FORMOSAT-2 image where landslides were 3
mapped. We enlarged the FORMOSAT-2 image at full screen size of
the 20-in. monitor, then duplicated the FORMOSAT-2 image at 90- 2
m resolution. Next, we changed this color image into 256 shades of
gray scale image data. Furthermore, we changed it into black-and- 1
white image using the threshold pixel value of 254, 250, 240, 230,
220, 210, 200, and 190. Therefore, we obtained eight kinds of black- 0

90-135

135-180

180-225

225-270

270-315

315-360

360-405

405-450
0-45

45-90
and-white image data. Comparing the eight images, we found that
the threshold of 200, in other words, the area which the pixel value
less than 200 was cloud free and suitable for landslide interpre-
(GE)-(STRM) location error (m)
tation. Then, we were able to calculate an average landslide spatial
density of 0.1 landslides/km2. Fig. 6 Frequency plot of data in Table 1

Discussion

Landslide distribution antennas in which the relative phases of the respective signals
The landslide locations shown in Fig. 5a are concentrated in the feeding the antennas are varied in such a way that the effective
southeast portion of the image. The Geographical Survey Institute radiation pattern of the array is reinforced in a desired direction
of Japan (GSI 2008; Tobita et al. 2008) analyzed ALOS (Advanced and suppressed in undesired directions. Interferometric processes
Land Observing Satellite)/PALSAR (Phased Array type L-band between pre- and post-earthquake SAR images make it possible to
Synthetic Aperture Radar) data and constructed an In-SAR detect any LOS changes caused by crustal deformation. Figure 5b
(Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar) image. Figure 5b shows the interferogram expressed in phase-color (fringe) change
shows an overlay of the landslide distribution (white dots) on on the ALOS ascending orbit. Direction of view is from west to east;
the In-SAR image (path 473 data, taken on 18 February 2008 and 20 it shows only seismic surface deformation because any topographic
May 2008). phase contribution was retrieved using the DEM. When there is no
An active microwave device, SAR, is capable of recording the deformation on the ground surface, the color does not change;
electromagnetic echo backscattered from the ground surface and however, when there is any deformation on the ground surface,
of arranging as a 2D image map, whose dimensions are the sensor- interference colors can be perceived. In Fig. 5b, landslides are also
target distance (line of sight direction, LOS) and the platform flight concentrated on the color-phase area where interferometric
direction (Colesanti and Wasowski 2006). The PALSAR sensor uses process does not work because of the great surface disturbance
an L-band microwave (wave length=23.6 cm) that is able to due to the deformation caused by fault displacement.
penetrate leaves and tree branches. Therefore, any ground GSI (2008) revealed that the boundary where the phase colors
deformation obscured by plants is thought to be more detectable are drastically changed on the In-SAR image is along Beichuan
than with the shorter wavelength of microwave. The PALSAR fault (Densmore et al. 2007) near Beichuan and suggested that the
sensor adopted a phased array type antenna that is a group of boundary corresponds to the surface rupture fault. Furthermore,

Table 2 Location error between the same landmarks on FORMOSAT-2 and SPOT5
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Landmark Location on SPOT5 image read from GE
Error (m), ðdE Þ2 þ ðdNÞ2
1,145 River meander 31° 45′ 21.75″ N 104° 16′ 14.24″ E
975 River meander 31° 48′ 13.31″ N 104° 10′ 2.17″ E
727 Road intersection 31° 50′ 3.04″ N 104° 13′ 2.63″ E
1,541 Road curve 31° 49′ 48.68″ N 104° 28′ 25.67″ E
784 Road intersection in valley bottom 31° 43′ 19.10″ N 104° 26′ 57.56″ E
1,434 Road curve 32° 1′ 26.59″ N 104° 10′ 52.56″ E
1,137 Road curve 31° 55′ 7.73″ N 104° 13′ 8.83″ E
867 Road intersection in valley bottom 31° 56′ 55.91″ N 104° 16′ 11.16″ E
906 Road curve in valley bottom 31° 53′ 54.88″ N 104° 15′ 20.22″ E
870 Road curve in valley bottom 31° 41′ 7.39″ N 104° 16′ 45.25″ E
1,038.6 (average)

Landslides 6 • (2009) 157

 Recent Landslides
16
Tobita (2008) stated that the boundary is also visible near the
Sample 244 grids
Pengguan fault (Densmore et al. 2007; shown in SE of Beichuan in 13.4

Landslide grid ratio (/10,000)

Fig. 5b); i.e., it looks like a step-over of the surface rupture fault. 12.3
Field survey by Dong et al. (2008) revealed that eastward-thrusting 12

surface rupture resulted in 2.7 m of vertical displacement in

Beichuan with the vertical offset of ca. 0.8 m in a river bed in the 8.2
Pengguan fault (Dong et al. 2008 call it “Guanxian–Anxian fault”) 8
zone, which was also activated by the earthquake. 5.8
Figure 5b also shows that many landslides are along the 4.4
Beichuan fault. Dong et al. (2008) interpreted post-earthquake 4
aerial photographs in the Beichuan area and traced two subsidiary
1.6
fault ruptures. They mapped large landslides and also showed that
landslides are located along the surface rupture. Furthermore, 0.0 0.0
0
Fig. 5b shows that they seem to be concentrated within a 10-km-

5-10

10-15

15-20

20-25

25-30

30-35

35-40

40-45
wide zone centered on the fault trace. The landslide density in this
concentrated area is 0.3 landslides/km2. In the case of the 2005 Slope angle (degree)
northern Pakistan earthquake, the landslide density was 3.2
landslides/km2, which was interpreted using 2.5-m-resolution Fig. 7 Landslide density (landslide grid ratio) with respect to slope classes.
SPOT5 (System Pour l’Observation de la Terre 5) images (Sato et Because dividing the number of landslide cells in a slope category by the total
al. 2007). If higher resolution satellite images were available for this number of cells in that category, yields extremely small numbers we multiplied the
study area and the smaller landslides were mapped, we strongly ratio by 10,000
suspect that a higher landslide density would be obtained.

Location error evaluation of Digital Elevation Model on Google™ Earth view the landslides locations on GE; however, when we overlay
To investigate the slope angles of mapped landslides, it would have them on SRTM3-DEM we cannot directly calculate statistics and we
been best to calculate directly from GE, but GE gave neither a slope- have to correctly process this error as explained hereafter.
calculation function nor DEM source information. Assuming that
the slope angles calculated from the SRTM3-DEM were accurate, we Location error evaluation of FORMOSAT-2 image provided by GE
estimated the location error of the DEM provided by GE. GE also published a SPOT5 image taken before the earthquake,
Distinguished landmarks such as the confluences and meanders which is geo-rectified to fit the DEM. In the study area, the SPOT5
of rivers and summits of mountain peaks were selected. These image was taken on 10 November 2006 with an off nadir angle of
points could be identified on both the GE and the SRTM3-DEM. 28.76°, according to SPOT images browsing system (http://sirius.
Both GE and SRTM3-DEM use WGS84 ellipsoid to project locations spotimage.fr/). Figure 4b shows SPOT5’s bird-eye view from south
(Google Earth 2008; NASA 2006). Nineteen points were selected as to north. As shown in Fig. 4c, an oblique aerial view from south to
shown in Table 1. Longitude and latitude of these points were north, the FORMOSAT-2 image by GE is rectified to fit the map but
independently read from GE and from the SRTM3-DEM using less precisely. We think there are two reasons for this. It is thought
ArcGIS 9.2. The location errors, i.e., discrepancy of the length that (1) the FORMOSAT-2 image was not orthorectified using a
between the same points on the GE and the SRTM3-DEM, were DEM, different from the SPOT5 image and that (2) the off nadir
measured in meters, after projecting the UTM-zone 48N on the angle is larger in FORMOSAT-2 image than in the SPOT5 image.
WGS84 ellipsoid. From these measurements, an average location The numbered locations in Fig. 4b and c indicate the same points
error was found to be 146.5 m (Table 1) with a standard deviation of on the two images. Because of location errors, slopes calculated for
105.1 m. the same points in the two images can be significantly different.
Terra ETL (2007) infers that GE projects longitude and latitude To calculate the correct slope angle of the landslides, it was also
coordinates on computer screens not by a WGS84 ellipsoid but by necessary to evaluate the FORMOSAT-2 image-location error. Ten
a sphere so that these coordinates on the sphere are treated as if landmarks were selected where they were clearly identified both on
they were on the WGS84 ellipsoid (Přidal 2008). Neilsen (2008) FORMOSAT-2 and SPOT5 images. Locations measured on the
stated that it causes position errors of up to 800 m. In Table 1 GE- SPOT5 image are assumed to be correct. Distances between the
DEM has the systematic location error of northwest direction to same landmarks of FORMOSAT-2 and SPOT5 images were
SRTM-DEM. Here, we cannot confirm whether the spherical measured using GE. Table 2 shows the average distance (or
projection error causes the 146.5 m error (Table 1) or not; however, error) was 1,038.6 m. The orthorectified SPOT5 image does not
we thought that this location error is independent of location error always indicate correct locations because the study area contains
of FORMOSAT-2 image provided by GE, as explained in the mountainous topography with large local relief; the accuracy of the
following section. orthorectified image is dependent on the quality of DEM and
Figure 6 shows location-error frequency. As shown in Fig. 6, ground control points. However, because SPOT IMAGE (2005)
error frequency of the class 45–90 m is highest; low error frequency stated that the obtained orthorectified image makes it possible to
dominates the higher error classes of 270–405 m. Because the DEM attain a 10-m-location accuracy (one sigma standard deviation), we
on GE is coarser than that of SRTM3-DEM, it was difficult to thought that the SPOT5-location accuracy in the study area was
precisely locate some broad summits on GE. Such summits are negligible when compared to the 1,038.6 m discrepancy between
codes 5–7 in Table 1. After eliminating these data, the average the two imageries. This 1,038.6 m discrepancy shows that, even if
location error was found to be 107.9 m. This error is tolerated to landslide source is plotted carefully on the FORMOSAT-2 image,

158 Landslides 6 • (2009)

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landslides occurred on slopes of 30–35°. Slope-angle frequency plots
indicate that the steeper the slope angle, the higher the landslide H. P. Sato ())
Geography and Crustal Dynamics Research Center, Geographical Survey Institute,
frequency, and that landslide density drop at steeper slope angles. Tsukuba 305-0811, Japan
e-mail: hsato@gsi.go.jp
Acknowledgements
E. L. Harp
Support for Hiroshi P. Sato’s research at the U.S. Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey,
facilities in Golden, CO was provided by a grant from the Ministry Box 25046MS 966, Denver Federal Center,
of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. Denver, CO, USA

Landslides 6 • (2009) 159