Journal of The School of Marine Science and Technology,Vol.7 No.2
The Characteristics of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake Disaster with a Special Emphasis on Rock Slope Failures, Quake Lakes and Damage to Tunnels
Omer AYDAN, Yoshimi OHTA, Masanori HAMADA,
Jun ITOH and Katsumi OHKUBO
Abstract
The 2008 Great Wenchuan Earthquake occurred in Wenchuan County and caused extensive damage to buildings,
infrastructures and it induced the failure of natural slopes as well as cut-slopes. More than 85000 people lost their
lives besides the heavy structural damage. The characteristics of the Wenchuan earthquake are presented and the
causes of failures of natural and cut-slopes and quake lakes are explained. Furthermore, possible mitigation
measures against slope failures are presented. Many tunnels in the epicentral area were damaged by the strong
motions as well as by permanent ground deformation induced due to faulting.The failure of non-reinforced concrete
linings caused by this earthquake is of great concern to tunneling community and it presented an important issue to
be dealt with in the earthquake-resistant design of underground structures.Some suggestions for possible earthquake
-resistant measures for tunnels lined with non-reinforced concrete linings are proposed in this article.