An Overview of Formation Mechanism and Disaster Characteristics of Post‐seismic Debris Flows Triggered by Subsequent Rainstorms in Wenchuan Earthquake Extremely Stricken Areas

Abstract

AbstractThe Wenchuan earthquake induced large amounts of debris flows and catastrophic incidents triggered by subsequent rainstorms occurred frequently in the past 6 rainy seasons, and thus resulted in serious casualties, huge economic loss and long‐term impact. In this paper, post‐seismic debris flows distributed in 10 Wenchuan earthquake extremely stricken counties were verified and debris flow database consisting of 609 debris flows was established based on detailed investigation organized by Land and Resources Department of Sichuan Province. Combined with database and related studies, the impact of Wenchuan earthquake on debris flows was analyzed. And then variation of formation conditions including rainfall threshold and landform condition was analyzed by contrasting pre‐seismic and post‐seismic debris flows. Followed are some typical viewpoints on initiation mechanism of post‐seismic debris flows. In the end of this paper, characteristics of post‐seismic debris flows triggered by subsequent rainstorms were comprehensively summarized, such as regional group occurrence, high frequency, high viscosity, chain effect, huge dynamics, large scale and long duration. We hope this paper will be helpful in understanding the formation mechanism, disaster characteristics and prevention countermeasures of post‐seismic debris flows in Wenchuan earthquake extremely stricken areas.