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  • Perspective
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Human amplification of secondary earthquake hazards through environmental modifications

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change and modification of landscapes — such as deforestation, sediment movement, irrigation and sea-level rise — can destabilize natural systems and amplify hazards from earthquake-triggered landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and coastal flooding. In this Perspective, we examine the connections and feedbacks between human environmental modifications and secondary earthquake hazards to identify steps for hazard mitigation. Destabilization of slopes by vegetation removal, agricultural activities, steepening, loading and drainage disruption can amplify landslide hazards. For example, landslides were mainly triggered on deforested slopes after the 2010 and 2021 Haiti earthquakes. Liquefaction hazards are intensified by extensive irrigation and land reclamation, as exemplified by liquefaction causing >15 m of ground displacement in irrigated areas after the 2018 Palu earthquake. Degradation or removal of primary coastal vegetation and coral reefs, destruction of sand dunes, subsidence from groundwater withdrawal, and sea-level rise can increase tsunami inland reach. Restoration of natural coastal habitats could help decrease the maximum inland reach of tsunami, but their effectiveness depends on tsunami size. Sustainable farming practices, such as mixed crop cultivation and drip irrigation, can successfully reduce the saturation of soils and the liquefaction hazard in some situations. Future research should explore the potential of such sustainable practices and nature-based solutions in reducing earthquake-related hazards, in addition to their climate and ecosystem benefits.

Key points

  • Human modification of the environment, both at a local and global scale, can amplify the secondary hazards of earthquakes, such as landslides, liquefaction and tsunami. Understanding the history of landscape modification is helpful to understanding hazard drivers and could thus contribute to future mitigation solutions.

  • Direct human influences on secondary earthquake hazards include vegetation removal, sediment movement, slope modification and hydrological disturbance. Indirect human influences include the impacts of climate change, such as increasing temperatures, extreme weather and sea-level rise.

  • Saturated soils from irrigation and/or deforestation practices can reduce the stability of hillslopes and increase the risks of landslide and liquefaction hazards. Mixed crop cultivation and drip irrigation techniques reduce the saturation of soils and therefore could reduce the liquefaction hazard in some situations, while also reducing water use and greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Restoring natural coastal ecosystems and habitats with sand dunes, beaches, primary coastal forests, coral reefs and seagrass meadows can provide some protection against tsunamis, but there are limitations to their mitigation potential for moderate-to-large tsunamis over a few metres high.

  • Even though biodiverse coastal ecosystems do not provide full protection against tsunamis, their potential for limited hazard reduction along with a host of other ecosystem services and carbon sequestration benefits should be an argument for preserving and restoring them as much as possible.

  • Future research should prioritize exploring the co-benefits of sustainable practices in restoring and stabilizing landscapes so they are less susceptible to failure during earthquakes.

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Fig. 1: Anthropogenic influences on landslide hazards.
Fig. 2: Anthropogenic influences on liquefaction hazards.
Fig. 3: Anthropogenic influences on tsunami hazard.
Fig. 4: Interactions between various human environmental modifications and earthquake secondary hazards.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Tier 3b project ‘Investigating Volcano and Earthquake Science and Technology (InVEST)’ (award number MOE-MOET32021-0002 to E.M.H.) and by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore under its NRF Investigatorship Scheme (award number NRF-NRFI05-2019-0009 to E.M.H.). The authors thank C. Garfias for the interesting discussions and K. Bradley for providing data used in Box 2. This is Earth Observatory of Singapore paper number 590.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Emma M. Hill, Adam D. Switzer, David Lallemant & Sharadha Sathiakumar

  2. Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Emma M. Hill, Adam D. Switzer & David Lallemant

  3. Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Jamie W. McCaughey

  4. Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yu Wang

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Contributions

E.M.H. conceptualized the Perspective, coordinated the process and wrote the preliminary draft with the help of J.W.M. All authors contributed to the discussions, planning, writing and review of the manuscript. S.S. developed the graphics.

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Correspondence to Emma M. Hill.

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Nature Reviews Earth & Environment thanks M. d Ruiter, E. Hussain, E. Mortensen and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Hill, E.M., McCaughey, J.W., Switzer, A.D. et al. Human amplification of secondary earthquake hazards through environmental modifications. Nat Rev Earth Environ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00551-z

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