ABSTRACT
Last year the effect El Niño was revealed by heavy rains in some regions, especially in Japan, Korea, and the Yangtze river area in China. In Korea, there were torrential rains at most parts of the country between July 31 and August 18, 1998. Intense rainfalls caused wide spreading floods and landslides which resulted in over 300 in death (324 people were dead or missing) and total property damage was more than $923 million that is the second severest in the Korean history. After analyzing the causes of casualties, it is found that 82 people were sacrificed by the slope stability related problems, 4 by retaining structure failures and 78 by landslides. Brief site investigations were performed at fifteen sites to find the general characteristics of landslides in Korea. This paper contains general information and brief discussions on several landslides occurred in Korea. 1998.
