Landslide hazard assessment using digital elevation models

Human beings are, in general, risk-averse and willing to go to great lengths to reduce failure consequences. However, if the underlying issues are not understood, effective action cannot properly be taken. A landslide hazard assessment framework capable of estimating regional probabilities of slope failure can be used to aid a vast number of communities currently living in landslide “danger zones”. Such a framework would provide a tool with which community resources can be optimized and ensure that appropriate preparedness and mitigation strategies are in place. Maximum slope angles, as estimated using digital elevation models (DEMs), are one of the most important indicators for landslide hazard assessment. This paper uses local averaging theory to determine how the resolution of DEMs affects regional landslide probability estimates. Emphasis is on a regional landslide hazard assessment, measured by the probability that one or more slopes of at least a critical minimum scale will fail within the region.