Letters: Predicting landslides

Re “An area primed for a disaster,” March 28

Unlike earthquakes, landslides like the one in Washington state can be detected, preventing loss of life.

For decades, movements of large sloped land masses have been measured utilizing inclinometers that quantify the magnitude and geometry of soil movements at different depths. The measurements, combined with numerical modeling, produce a three-dimensional imagery of the subsurface soil mass and its directional movements.

To prevent future Hazel Slide disasters, government entities should mandate that developers install monitoring systems that transmit data to the U.S. Geological Survey and state and local survey centers for analysis so any necessary alerts can be issued for evacuations.

Jack Yaghoubian

Toluca Lake

The writer is a licensed professional engineer.

ALSO:

Letters: The NRA’s big lie about guns

Letters: Getting money out of state politics

Letters: Farmers are doing their part on water