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<br /> <br />offshore oil platforms, pipelines, and dams. The <br />cost of cleanup must also be included (Figure <br />3). All other landslide costs are considered to <br />be indirect. Examples of indirect costs given by <br />Schuster and Fleming (1986) include: <br />(1) reduced real estate values, <br />(2) loss of productivity of agricultural or <br />forest lands, <br />(3) loss of tax revenues from properties <br />devalued as a result oflandslides, <br />(4) costs of measures to prevent or mitigate <br />future landslide damage, <br />(5) adverse effects on water quality in <br />streams, <br />(6) secondary physical effects, such as <br />landslide-caused flooding, for which <br />the costs are both direct and indirect, <br />(7) loss of human productivity due to <br />injury or death. <br />Other examples are: <br />(8) fish kills, <br />(9) costs oflitigation. <br />In addition to economic losses, there are <br />intangible costs of lands Ii ding such as personal <br />stress, reduced quality oflife, and the destruc- <br />tion of personal possessions having great sen- <br />timental value. Because costs of indirect and <br />intangible losses are difficult or impossible to <br />calculate, they are often undervalued or ignor- <br />ed. If they are taken into account, they often <br />produce highly variable estimates of damage <br />for a particular incident. <br /> <br /> <br />Figure 2. Major damage to homes in <br />Farmington, Utah as a result of 1983 Rudd <br />Creek mudslide (photograph by Robert <br />Kistner, Kistner and Associates). <br /> <br /> <br />Figure 3. Local volunteers form "bucket <br />brigade" to help clean mud and debris from <br />homes in Farmington, Utah in 1983 <br />(photograph by Robert Kistner, Kistner and <br />Associates). <br /> <br />Long-Term Benefits of Mitigation <br /> <br />Studies have been conducted to estimate the <br />potential savings when measures to minimize <br />the effects oflandsliding are applied. One early <br />study by Alfors et al. (1973) attempted to fore- <br />cast the potential costs of landslide hazards in <br />California for the period 1970-2000 and the <br />effects of applying mitigative measures. Under <br />the conditions of applying all feasible measures <br />at state-of-the-art levels (for the 1970s), there <br />was a 90 percent reduction in losses for a bene- <br />fit/cost ratio 01'8.7:1, or $8.7 saved for every $1 <br />spent. Nilsen and Turner (1975) estimated that <br />approximately 80 percent of the landslides in <br />Contra Costa County, California are related to <br />human activity. In Allegheny County, Penn- <br />sylvania, 90 percent are related to such activity <br />according to Briggs et al. (1975). <br />Because most landslides triggered by man <br />are directly related to construction activities, <br />appropriate grading codes can significantly <br />decrease landslide losses in urban areas. Slos- <br />son (1969) compared landslide losses in Los <br />Angeles for those sites constructed prior to <br />1952, when no grading codes existed and soils <br />engineering and engineering geology were not <br />required, with losses sustained at sites after <br />such codes were enacted. He found that the <br />monetary losses were reduced by approximat- <br />ely 97 percent. <br /> <br />5 <br />