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36 Landslides accompany many disasters, frequently blocking vital rescue and communicatiol1 links, as on this Washington highway. Like floods, they are widespread, but are often seen as local events, complicatirlg a coordinated program of landslide control. development of new mapping techniques, wide- spread adoption and enforcement of appropriate building and grading codes, more effective land use planning and management, wide dissemina- tion of information about landslide risk and loss reduction, and serious examination of the feasi- bility of landslide insurance. An effective program to reduce landslide losses worldwide can begin today. Existing knowledge about landslide processes and loss reduction practices can provide a basis for widespread and effective implementation of the loss reduction techniques now available. At the same time, research should be undertaken to improve the technical base for formulating design, building, and grading codes and developing new techniques to prevent loss. Potential projects during the IDNHR include: ~ study of landslide processes, including land- slide initiation and the mechanics of landslide transport and deposition; ~ development and demonstration of improved landslide mapping methods on a broad range of map scales; ~ organization of an international landslide information service to provide data and technical assistance to groups interested in setting up a landslide mapping program; ~ study of the economic, political, and social processes that encourage or impede landslide mitigation programs; ~ development and application of land use practices and regulations that reduce vulnerability to landslides; ~ development and use of landslide control measures, such as soil drainage; ~ analyses of regional and temporal landslide distributions to develop recurrence models, pre- dictive criteria, and risk assessments; ~ instrumentation of landslide-prone areas for hazard assessment, prediction, and warning; ~ assessment of interrelationships between landslides and other natural hazards, including intense storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and wildfires; ~ development of design criteria relating ground deformation and damage to structures; ~ improvement of response strategies for land- slide disasters; and ~ application of new techniqucs in satellite remote sensing, geophysics, and geotechnical en- gineering for delineation of areas of landslide hazard. TSUNAMIS Tsunamis are large ocean waves generated by impulses from geophysical cvents occurring on the ocean bottom or along the coastline, such as earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. These waves usually have relatively small heights in the deep ocean, but they can become destruc- tively large as they approach shallow water and run up on the shore. Tsunami damage is a direct rcsult of three factors: inundation, wave impact on structures, and coastal erosion.