A multidisciplinary landslide case study: Devrek landslide

Abstract

Landslides are one of the leading causes of loss of life and property in the World. Landslides are the most profound ones within other mass movements. Especially in the Northern region of Turkey is severely threatened by landslides. Mass movements can be divided several main classes which are falls, slides, creeps, flows and complex movements. Landslides can occur due to a variety of reasons and most basic one of them is the angle of repose or slope of the hillside. If the angle is overly steep, gravity will pull the material downward, causing a mass movement. Many studies have been carried out in Turkey to monitor landslides, prevent and reduce landslides damage. These studies mostly focused on forecasting of landslides and damage determination after landslides. Activities required to be carried out in the field can be resulted with unwanted consequences for work safety while the landslide is still active. A landslide is triggered at Devrek, Zonguldak on July 16th, 2015 which affected an area of 40 hectares. For this reason, 88 buildings and a school are evacuated by authorities. To support emergency action plan while ongoing active landslide occurrence at Devrek, apart from the geotechnical approach, aerial photogrammetry, terrestrial laser scanning, land-based SAR methods are used. This study is a summary of studies carried out simultaneously with an active landslide at Devrek, Zonguldak on July 20th - August 8th, 2015.