A hazard assessment of secondary disasters after earthquake in Wenchuan

Abstract

Wenchuan Earthquake triggered a lot of secondary disasters including landslide, collapse and mud-rock flow which have brought enormous difficulties on traffic, communications, and hydropower projects. As aftershocks will be last for a long time, the risk assessment of secondary disasters plays an important role for disaster prevention and mitigation. The remote sensing images of China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite (CBERS) with geological map, soil map and chart of vegetation coverage were used to distinguish the potential dangerous regions in Wenchuan County and assess the risk degree of secondary disasters. The results show that high possibility risk areas are located in the tall mountains and river valley from northeast to southeast around Yingxiu, Weizhou, Miansi, Yinxing, Gengda and Xuankou Town.