Earthquake-triggered ground-failure, such as landsliding and liquefaction, can contribute significantly to losses, but our current ability to accurately include them in earthquake hazard analyses is limited. The development of robust and transportable models requires access to numerous inventories of ground failure triggered by earthquakes that span a broad range of terrains, shaking characteristics, and climates. We present an openly accessible, centralized earthquake-triggered ground-failure inventory repository in the form of a ScienceBase Community to provide open access to these data, and help accelerate progress. The Community hosts digital inventories created by both USGS and non-USGS authors. We present the original digital inventory files (when available) as well as an integrated database with uniform attributes. We also summarize the mapping methodology and level of completeness as reported by the original authors for each inventory. This document describes the steps taken to collect, process, and compile the inventories and the process for adding additional ground-failure inventories to the ScienceBase Community in the future.

Currently, there are many datasets describing landslides caused by individual earthquakes, and global inventories of earthquake-induced landslides (EQIL). However, until recently, there were no datasets that provide a comprehensive description of the impacts of earthquake-induced landslide events. In this data release, we present an up-to-date, comprehensive global database containing all literature-documented earthquake-induced landslide events for the 249-year period from 1772 through August 2021. The database represents an update of the catalog developed by Seal et al. (2020), which summarized events through March 2020 and was based on the catalog developed by Nowicki Jessee et al. (2020). The revised catalog contains 281 historical earthquakes, 162 of which include documented landslide fatality counts. This represents an addition of 17 earthquakes since the previous version, 9 with documented landslide fatalities, and a removal of 2 duplicate entries. The database includes (where available) information on earthquake size (moment magnitude (Mw), surface-wave magnitude (Ms), and body-wave magnitude (mb)), depth, earthquake fault type, date and time, location, the availability of a ShakeMap, which estimates the spatial distribution of ground shaking from the USGS ShakeMap system (Worden and Wald, 2016), the availability of a geospatial landslide inventory, information about landslide occurrence (number of landslides, area or volume of landsliding, area affected by landsliding, landslide magnitude), earthquake/landslide impact (total fatalities, landslide fatalities, and number of injuries due to the effects of the earthquake), and USGS Ground Failure Tool estimates (estimated area and population exposed to landsliding). The full dataset of all known landslide-triggering events is provided as “EQIL Database 2022.csv,” including information on the data source(s) for each data component. A subset of the dataset, showing only those events for which landslide fatality counts are available, is provided as “EQIL Database LSFatality 2022.csv.” This subset only includes those columns from "EQIL Database 2022.csv" which are necessary for landslide fatality data analysis and omits columns such as source columns and secondary values.

Currently, there are many datasets describing landslides caused by individual earthquakes, and global inventories of earthquake-induced landslides (EQIL). However, until recently, there were no datasets that provide a comprehensive description of the impacts of earthquake-induced landslide events. In this data release, we present an up-to-date, comprehensive global database containing all literature-documented earthquake-induced landslide events for the 249-year period from 1772 through August 2021. The database represents an update of the catalog developed by Seal et al. (2020), which summarized events through March 2020 and was based on the catalog developed by Nowicki Jessee et al. (2020). The revised catalog contains 281 historical earthquakes, 162 of which include documented landslide fatality counts. This represents an addition of 17 earthquakes since the previous version, 9 with documented landslide fatalities, and a removal of 2 duplicate entries. The database includes (where available) information on earthquake size (moment magnitude (Mw), surface-wave magnitude (Ms), and body-wave magnitude (mb)), depth, earthquake fault type, date and time, location, the availability of a ShakeMap, which estimates the spatial distribution of ground shaking from the USGS ShakeMap system (Worden and Wald, 2016), the availability of a geospatial landslide inventory, information about landslide occurrence (number of landslides, area or volume of landsliding, area affected by landsliding, landslide magnitude), earthquake/landslide impact (total fatalities, landslide fatalities, and number of injuries due to the effects of the earthquake), and USGS Ground Failure Tool estimates (estimated area and population exposed to landsliding). The full dataset of all known landslide-triggering events is provided as “EQIL Database 2022.csv,” including information on the data source(s) for each data component. A subset of the dataset, showing only those events for which landslide fatality counts are available, is provided as “EQIL Database LSFatality 2022.csv.” This subset only includes those columns from "EQIL Database 2022.csv" which are necessary for landslide fatality data analysis and omits columns such as source columns and secondary values.

This inventory was originally created by Morton (1971) describing the landslides triggered by a sequence of earthquakes, with the largest being the M 6.6 San Fernando, California earthquake that occurred on 9 February 1971 at 14:00:41 UTC. Care should be taken when comparing with other inventories because different authors use different mapping techniques. This inventory includes landslides triggered by a sequence of earthquakes rather than a single mainshock. Please check the author methods summary and the original data source for more information on these details and to confirm the viability of this inventory for your specific use. With the exception of the data from USGS sources, the inventory data and associated metadata were not acquired by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and thus have not been reviewed for accuracy and completeness by the USGS. They are presented as part of this data series for convenience of the user only, as part of an effort to make published ground-failure inventories more accessible from a single aggregated site. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.

This inventory was originally created by Morton (1971) describing the landslides triggered by a sequence of earthquakes, with the largest being the M 6.6 San Fernando, California earthquake that occurred on 9 February 1971 at 14:00:41 UTC. Care should be taken when comparing with other inventories because different authors use different mapping techniques. This inventory includes landslides triggered by a sequence of earthquakes rather than a single mainshock. Please check the author methods summary and the original data source for more information on these details and to confirm the viability of this inventory for your specific use. With the exception of the data from USGS sources, the inventory data and associated metadata were not acquired by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and thus have not been reviewed for accuracy and completeness by the USGS. They are presented as part of this data series for convenience of the user only, as part of an effort to make published ground-failure inventories more accessible from a single aggregated site. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.

This inventory was originally created by Li and others (2014) describing the landslides triggered by the M 7.9 Wenchuan, China earthquake that occurred on 12 May 2008 at 06:28:01 UTC. Care should be taken when comparing with other inventories because different authors use different mapping techniques. This inventory also could be associated with other earthquakes such as aftershocks or triggered events. Please check the author methods summary and the original data source for more information on these details and to confirm the viability of this inventory for your specific use. With the exception of the data from USGS sources, the inventory data and associated metadata were not acquired by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and thus have not been reviewed for accuracy and completeness by the USGS. They are presented as part of this data series for convenience of the user only, as part of an effort to make published ground-failure inventories more accessible from a single aggregated site. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.

This inventory was originally created by Wilson and others (1980) describing the landslides triggered by the M 5.8 Livermore, California earthquake that occurred on 24 January 1980 at 19:00:09 UTC. Care should be taken when comparing with other inventories because different authors use different mapping techniques. This inventory also could be associated with other earthquakes such as aftershocks or triggered events. Please check the author methods summary and the original data source for more information on these details and to confirm the viability of this inventory for your specific use. With the exception of the data from USGS sources, the inventory data and associated metadata were not acquired by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and thus have not been reviewed for accuracy and completeness by the USGS. They are presented as part of this data series for convenience of the user only, as part of an effort to make published ground-failure inventories more accessible from a single aggregated site. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.

This inventory was originally created by Wilson and others (1980) describing the landslides triggered by the M 5.8 Livermore, California earthquake that occurred on 24 January 1980 at 19:00:09 UTC. Care should be taken when comparing with other inventories because different authors use different mapping techniques. This inventory also could be associated with other earthquakes such as aftershocks or triggered events. Please check the author methods summary and the original data source for more information on these details and to confirm the viability of this inventory for your specific use. With the exception of the data from USGS sources, the inventory data and associated metadata were not acquired by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and thus have not been reviewed for accuracy and completeness by the USGS. They are presented as part of this data series for convenience of the user only, as part of an effort to make published ground-failure inventories more accessible from a single aggregated site. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.

Landslides are damaging and deadly, and they occur in every U.S. state. However, our current ability to understand landslide hazards at the national scale is limited, in part because spatial data on landslide occurrence across the U.S. varies greatly in quality, accessibility, and extent. Landslide inventories are typically collected and maintained by different agencies and institutions, usually within specific jurisdictional boundaries, and often with varied objectives and information attributes or even in disparate formats. The purpose of this data release is to provide an openly accessible, centralized map of existing information on landslide occurrence across the entire U.S. The data release includes digital inventories created by both USGS and non-USGS authors. It provides an integrated database of all the landslides with a selection of uniform attributes, but also includes links to the original digital inventory files (whenever available). Given the wide range of landslide information sources in this data compilation, we also provide an attribute to assess the relative confidence in the characterization of the location and extent of each landslide. Further details about each landslide and more recent information (when it exists) can be accessed by clicking the “more information” attribute link to the original source information. This database will be updated intermittently and was most recently updated in March 2019. Please contact gs-haz_landslides_inventory@usgs.gov for more information on how to contribute additional inventories to this community effort.

Landslides are damaging and deadly, and they occur in every U.S. state. However, our current ability to understand landslide hazards at the national scale is limited, in part because spatial data on landslide occurrence across the U.S. varies greatly in quality, accessibility, and extent. Landslide inventories are typically collected and maintained by different agencies and institutions, usually within specific jurisdictional boundaries, and often with varied objectives and information attributes or even in disparate formats. The purpose of this data release is to provide an openly accessible, centralized map of existing information on landslide occurrence across the entire U.S. The data release includes digital inventories created by both USGS and non-USGS authors. It provides an integrated database of all the landslides with a selection of uniform attributes, but also includes links to the original digital inventory files (whenever available). Given the wide range of landslide information sources in this data compilation, we also provide an attribute to assess the relative confidence in the characterization of the location and extent of each landslide. Further details about each landslide and more recent information (when it exists) can be accessed by clicking the “more information” attribute link to the original source information. This database will be updated intermittently and was most recently updated in March 2019. Please contact gs-haz_landslides_inventory@usgs.gov for more information on how to contribute additional inventories to this community effort.