Landslide Risk Management

General Public Quiz

Introduction

This module is directed towards members of the general public of Australia, with particular relevance to those interested in the potential impact of landslide events upon themselves, or upon their property.

This module is particularly to provide a broad introduction to the philosophy and concepts embedded within the broad topic of risk management as it applies to landslides within Australia.

This module is applicable to you if you:

  • Are involved with a building development within a local government area that is prone to landslide events (of one form or another) and are required to have a landslide risk assessment conducted prior to gaining building approval; or
  • Are adjacent to (beside, above or below) a proposed development which requires a landslide risk assessment prior to its approval, and you are therefore an interested party; or
  • You are aware of landslide hazards within public property; or
  • You are interested in the topic in general terms;

The format of this module is a series of questions to step you through the concepts involved in Landslide Risk management (LRM) and to familiarise you with the terminology and jargon that you may encounter.

Question 10 of 10

10. What are the responsibilities of regulators in regard to Landslide Risk Assessment and Landslide Risk Management of my property and my dwelling?

  • development of database of landslide inventories and landslide susceptibility mapping.
  • the quality of Landslide Risk assessments and landslide Risk Management conducted within their local government area, and as reported to them for determination.
  • determination of acceptable or tolerable risk levels
  • all of the above

Regulators are responsible for many issues on behalf of the community, which they represent.

10. What are the responsibilities of regulators in regard to Landslide Risk Assessment and Landslide Risk Management of my property and my dwelling?

The regulator, frequently your local council, has an obligation to act in the interest of the community that they represent. There may be an over-arching state-level obligation as well. Accordingly, the regulator (at either local if not state-level) must establish the acceptable or tolerable risk levels appropriate for new or existing developments, in the interests of the community.

The regulator should necessarily set the minimum reporting requirements. AGS (2007) provides guidance on this issue to assist regulators. The regulators are necessarily to best placed body to record landslide issues within there area of responsibility, and should therefore be looking to develop susceptibility mapping to assist the Landslide Risk Management process.

Coroner Hand recognised the value of Landslide Risk Management in his determination of the inquiry into the Thredbo Landslide — see NSW Coroner’s report, Cl 918 to 920. He particularly recognised the role of regulators in the process:

918. On the last day of the Inquest I was provided with a report on Landslide Risk Management Concepts and Guidelines prepared by the Australian Geomechanics Society’s Sub-Committee on Landslide Risk Management. The purpose of the report was to establish new guidelines for assessing the geotechnical risk associated with hillside development. The guidelines were said to have a role in explaining to the public, regulators and the legal profession the process and limitations of Landslide Risk Management.

919. I recommend that the Building Code of Australia and any local code dealing with planning, development and building approval procedures, be reviewed and, if necessary, amended to include directions which require relevant consent authorities to take into account and to consider the application of proper hillside building practices and geotechnical considerations when assessing and planning urban communities in hillside environments.

920. I further recommend that the report on Landslide Risk Management Concepts and Guidelines be taken into account in undertaking this exercise.

It has also been estimated by the Australian Geomechanics Society that every local government area in Australia has landslide risk issues of some form or other in some part of their area of responsibility. The issues will be different from local government area to local government area, and not all the local government area will be impacted by either active or potential landslide issues, but it is recognised that the urban development pressures necessarily will place development in areas that were previously not considered suitable for development, and so a nexus is created.