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Earthquake-induced landslide (EQIL) inventories are essential tools to extend our knowledge of the relationship between earthquakes and the landslides they can trigger. Regrettably, such inventories are difficult to generate and therefore scarce, and the available ones differ in terms of their quality and level of completeness. Moreover, access to existing EQIL inventories is currently difficult because there is no centralized database. To address these issues, we compiled EQIL inventories from around the globe based on an extensive literature study. The database contains information on 363 landslide-triggering earthquakes and includes 66 digital landslide inventories. To make these data openly available, we created a repository to host the digital inventories that we have permission to redistribute through the U.S. Geological Survey ScienceBase platform. It can grow over time as more authors contribute their inventories. We analyze the distribution of EQIL events by time period and location, more specifically breaking down the distribution by continent, country, and mountain region. Additionally, we analyze frequency distributions of EQIL characteristics, such as the approximate area affected by landslides, total number of landslides, maximum distance from fault rupture zone, and distance from epicenter when the fault plane location is unknown. For the available digital EQIL inventories, we examine the underlying characteristics of landslide size, topographic slope, roughness, local relief, distance to streams, peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and Modified Mercalli Intensity. Also, we present an evaluation system to help users assess the suitability of the available inventories for different types of EQIL studies and model development.

At around 5:56 in the afternoon of 23 October 2004, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the Chuetsu district of Niigata Prefecture. That was followed by a M 6.0 quake at 6:11 p.m. and a M 6.5 quake at 6:34 P.M. As a result, 46 people were killed, about 4700 people were injured, and more than 15000 homes were partially or completely damaged by structural collapse, landslide, or other cause (18 March 2005 survey of the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, Japan). The Geographical Survey Institute (GSI) quickly publicized models of crustal movement and faults by using continuous observation data at the GPS-based control stations. It has also been taking various responses to this seismic damage such as conducting emergency on-site surveys, taking emergency aerial photographs, compiling orthophoto, providing information about damaged areas through the Internet, compiling seismic damage maps and maps for earthquake countermeasures and distributing these products to related organizations (GSI 2005a). This paper provides an introduction to our efforts in these GSI’s disaster responses. First, we were able to quickly identify areas and types of damage arising from landslides, compile the data into geographic information and disaster maps, and provide them to the public and relevant organizations. Second, we compiled two types of 1:25 000 earthquake damage maps. One is detailed version maps which assist in restoration and recovery efforts, and provide a record of the damage that can be of use in landslide research. The other is color-shaded version maps which show with great precision the patterns and locations of damage using high-precision elevation data obtained from airborne laser scanning.