Unlearned Lessons from the Oso, Wash., Landslide

It has been one year since the Oso, Wash., landslide that destroyed property and lives. For many Washington state emergency managers their response to the slide will be part of the memories that they take with them into the future.

The New York Times has this editorial remembering Oso, but also detailing how we can't seem to get motivated to spend the time and money to map the risks, How to Make Landslides Less Deadly.

I believe the bottom line for why we don't map landslide risk areas is because people don't want to know about the risk and be confronted with the facts. Some of those reasons include:

• My property may be devalued by having it designated as an area of risk.
• I want to live where I live worry free. Not knowing is comforting.
• The economic well-being of the community will be impacted if we document these risks.
• People have lived here for decades and never had a problem, don't start stirring up trouble.
• This is hocus pocus science. Don't tell me where I can and cannot live because you think something might happen.

Thus we will continue to have landslides. People will continue to die in events that could have been prevented and everyone else will feel comfortable and their bank accounts unimpacted by knowing where there are landslide risks.

Claire Rubin shared the link above.