Towards an early-warning system for global landslides triggered by rainfall and earthquake

Drawing upon the recent advances of satellite remote-sensing technology and landslide modelling techniques, a framework is proposed to attempt an early-warning system for landslide hazards after heavy rainfall and/or earthquake, the two major triggers for landslides. This framework includes three major components: (1) a landslide susceptibility information database, including geology, elevation, topography, soil, and land-cover types; (2) a real-time space-borne precipitation estimation system (http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov); and (3) a near-realtime ground-shaking prediction system after earthquakes (http://earthquake. usgs.gov/eqcenter/shakemap/). The ultimate goal of this framework is to rapidly predict landslide potential after large earthquakes and/or heavy rainfall by combing the dynamic triggers with landslide susceptibility information derived from high-resolution geospatial datasets. However, the challenge for integrating these real-time systems into an operational landslide prediction network and quickly disseminating alerts around the world is tremendous. It requires continued efforts and interdisciplinary collaboration in the next 2-5 years in order to realize such a system, providing early warning for landslides around the globe in a day-to-day decision-making operation.