Friday, April 10, 2015

Mass Wasting in Indonesia

The deterioration of hillsides and downhill movement are all considered mass wasting. This phenenomen can occur at a rapid rate, or can occur extremely slowly. Landslides can destroy communities and take lives.


In Indonesia, there are many earthquake occurences, which will move the earth material. There are also volcanic eruptions and tsunamis which devastate the land, which in turn all these geologic disasters shape the land, especially it's hills and slopes. In Indonesia, many landslides are devastating people and their homes. In December of 2014, a massive landslide in Central Java buried a village and killed 70 people. According the Indonesian Natural Disaster Authority, landslides claimed 248 lives due to landslides in the last year alone.
Google Images


A reason for so many landslides is that the population continues to increase, resulting in changes of land use, deforestation, and the addition of more roads. The soil cannot keep up with these changes, causing a loosening in the soil, and the heavy rainfall doesn't help either.


The Indonesian Natural Disaster Authority believes that that constant changing of substidence crops and change of land use is what is the main  cause of the landslides. Although, the prevention of these disasters seem to have a low priority, since Indonesia suffers from Volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Many people who live near these high risk hills and slopes are not eager to leave their homes, so many people will remain near these places until and really bad landslide hits.

Sources:

http://www.asianscientist.com/2015/01/features/landslides-indonesias-worst-nightmare/

http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/?s=indonesia+landslides&mswhere=blog&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

1 comment:

  1. I really enjoyed the inclusion of how people are the reason for most of the landslides in Indonesia. It just goes to show how people do not know the danger and risks involved with altering the nature and surroundings in their countries. It is really sad to see how far people will push the boundaries with nature just to make a new road or use more land.

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