Date Posted:07:20:15 10/23/00 Mon Author:Greg Subject: hillslope process
According to my uncle who is an ecologist, the slope failure that occur in Malaysia (the failure that caused the condos to fall like dominoes), was because the management failed to maintain the drains properly. The drains were filled with leave litter and had cracks. As such when there was precipation, the drains failed to channel the water to the low lands. The drains were flooded, and the water overflood to the surrounding areas, causing surface runoff to increase and the stability of the land around the condos to weaken. Cracks from the drains cause water to permeate into the ground directly into the area supporting the drain.
This process cause the stability of the ground support of the drain to weaken considerably. But more importantly, the ground was less cohesive(decrease of shear strength), and the capacity level of the soil soon reach its peak, thus causing mudslides to occur.
Point to note is that the drains were placed strategically to channel the rainfall to prevent landslides from occuring.
And when the mudslide occured, the drains were the first to go.
