Managing landslide hazards on the Illawarra escarpment.

For 12 year the University of Wollongong landslide research team has been developing a Geographic Information System based Landslide Inventory of the Wollongong Local Government Area and surrounding areas. This inventory can now provide data in near real-time via the World Wide Web. The inventory includes 569 landslide sites with a total of 956 landslide ‘events’ (includes all known occurrences and recurrences). Of these, four landslide sites are fully automated and continuously monitored, with data from them immediately accessible with a PIN access via the World Wide Web. Emergency response organisations and utility managers, as well as researchers and other stakeholders can monitor the movements, and this is especially important during times of high risk when direct access may be difficult. With an average annual rainfall across the city in the range 1200mm - 1600mm, landslides in Wollongong are primarily triggered by periods of prolonged heavy rainfall. The value to risk management of direct, near real-time access to data on landslide activity is obvious, and has been recognized world wide. The project will be extended by widening the area covered by the Inventory and near real time monitoring stations, and by refining the understanding of the rainfall thresholds likely to trigger landslide activity.