ABSTRACT
Earthquake-induced landslides have caused tens of thousand of deaths and billions of dollars in losses worldwide [1, 2]. In fact, in many earthquakes, secondary effects such as landslides have caused as much or more damage than the seismic shaking. This has been especially seen in Central America where geology, climate and geotechnical conditions make the area very prone to landsliding during heavy rains and/or during moderate-to-strong earthquakes. The first case documented of landslides during earthquakes in Central America was during the 1541 Guatemalan earthquake reported by Gutenberg [3] One of the most damaging cases was the 1991 Valle de La Estrella earthquake in Costa Rica (MW 7.7) which caused the greatest damage in the history of the country. The environmental damage produced included extensive landsliding, destruction of primary tropical rainforest, soil erosion, floods, silting of rivers and the Caribbean Sea, liquefaction, tectonic uplift and exposure of extensive areas of coral reefs. This earthquake cost the country 8.5% of the 1991 Gross National Product (GNP) and an average loss of 2% of the GNP in the years following the earthquake [4].
