The contractor conducting that research, consulting company Petrostar S.A.-Ploiesti, focused primarily on mapping active areas and defining the urgent technical construction problems related to stabilizing the old landslides. MONITORING THE MOTION Because of the ongoing threat, in 1992, the Romanian Oil Company -which lost more than 60-70 tons of oil per day because of the wells' destruction -began a landslide research program to develop an accurate and cost-effective methodology for studying the slides and their motion. Even in the face of this danger, though, the local populace continues to rebuild homes and businesses. The region continues to report small landslides almost monthly, often with devastating consequences to life and property in the affected area. The region had reached a peak in landslide frequency, with more than 30 reported between May and July, the most extensive and destructive of which hit Zemes village. This slide destroyed more than 44 oil production wells, 15 houses, and a school building, forcing many local residents to leave the area. Even wells that display no obvious tilting break their casings, causing oil to flow to the surface. The sudden shift displaces posts used to anchor the roads and to keep the well platforms from sliding, with some wells completely unearthed and deposited more than 30 meters from their original positions. Oil pipelines are thrust out of the ground, some bent, some broken. Then, on July 3, 1992, after two months of intense precipitation, a slope fails, sending 2.5 million cubic meters of material rushing toward the village of Zemes, in Bacau County. Instability increases further still as the land's mixture of hard and soft rocks slowly deforms under the intense pressure. Recently drilled wells and newly constructed roads cause water to pond rather than run down the hillside, compounding the over-wetting problem. Rain pelts the already soaked earth, loosing the soil's tenuous grip on the steep slopes of Romania's Gosman-Nemira Mountain range. Surveying a Romanian slide with GPS has helped one group better understand the slide's dynamics and move closer to predicting the threat it poses. Determining future landslide risk requires knowledge about current movement and the forces that cause a slope to slip.
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