Phased Reconnaissance Approach to Documenting Landslides following the 2016 Central Italy Earthquakes

Abstract

The 2016 Central Italy earthquake sequence caused numerous landslides over a large area in the Central Apennines. As a result, the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association (GEER) organized post-earthquake reconnaissance missions to collect perishable data. Given the challenging conditions following the earthquakes, the GEER team implemented a phased reconnaissance approach. This paper illustrates this approach and how it was used to document the largest and most impactful seismically induced landslides. This phased approach relied upon satellite-based interferometric damage proxy maps, preliminary published reports of observed landslides, digital imaging from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), traditional manual observations, and terrestrial laser scanning. Data collected from the reconnoitered sites were used to develop orthophotos and meshed three-dimensional digital surface models. These products can provide valuable information such as accurate measurements of landslide ground movements in complex topographic geometries or boulder runout distances from rock falls. The paper describes three significant landslide case histories developed and documented with the phased approach: Nera Valley, Village of Pescara del Tronto, and near the villages of Crognaleto and Cervaro.