Practice and thinking of landslide risk management considering their secondary consequences in the Three-Gorges Reservoir, China

Landslides along the reservoir shorelines cause not only the casualties nearby the landslides, but also more important impacts to shipping or coastal properties from their secondary hazard, such as wave triggered by high speed landslide into water. Since the impoundment of the Three-Gorges Reservoir in 2003 China, several landslides have caused large wave disasters. Five landslides considering secondary potential consequence during risk mitigation processes are illustrated and studied in terms of monitoring data analysis, early warning and emergency treatments. The paper deals with how to build an efficient cooperative framework between the geologists and the administrative agencies for risk management. It remains thinking about the high uncertainty for decision making. A modification of basic formula for risk assessment by Varnes is suggested for open discussion in which secondary consequence is included.