Disaster management

D.P.Rao
Director, National Remote Sensing Agency,
(Department of Space, Govt. of India),
Balanagar, Hyderabad - 500 037
director@nrsa.gov.in

Abstract
With the tropical climate and unstable landforms, coupled with high population density, poverty,
illiteracy and lack of adequate infrastructure, India is one of the most vulnerable developing
countries to suffer very often from various natural disasters, namely drought, flood, cyclone,
earth quake, landslide, forest fire, hail storm, locust, volcanic eruption, etc. Which strike causing
a devastating impact on human life, economy and environment. Though it is almost impossible
to fully recoup the damage caused by the disasters, it is possible to (i) minimize the potential
risks by developing early warning strategies (ii) prepare and implement developmental plans to
provide resilience to such disasters (iii) mobilize resources including communication and
telemedicinal services, and (iv) to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reconstruction. Space
technology plays a crucial role in efficient mitigation of disasters. While communication satellites
help in disaster warning, relief mobilization and tele-medicinal support, earth observation
satellites provide required database for pre-disaster preparedness programmes, disaster
response, monitoring activities and post-disaster damage assessment, and reconstruction, and
rehabilitation. The article describes the role of space technology in evolving a suitable strategy
for disaster preparedness and operational framework for their monitoring, assessment and
mitigation, identifies gap areas and recommends appropriate strategies for disaster mitigation
vis-à-vis likely developments in space and ground segments.

Introduction
Various disasters like earthquake, landslides, volcanic eruptions, fires, flood and cyclones are
natural hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and
property each year. The rapid growth of the world's population and its increased concentration
often in hazardous environment has escalated both the frequency and severity of natural
disasters. With the tropical climate and unstable land forms, coupled with deforestation,
unplanned growth proliferation non-engineered constructions which make the disaster-prone
areas mere vulnerable, tardy communication, poor or no budgetary allocation for disaster
prevention, developing countries suffer more or less chronically by natural disasters. Asia tops
the list of casualties due to natural disaster. Among various natural hazards, earthquakes,
landslides, floods and cyclones are the major disasters adversely affecting very large areas and
population in the Indian sub-continent. These natural disasters are of (i) geophysical origin such
as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, land slides and (ii) climatic origin such as drought, flood,
cyclone, locust, forest fire. Though it may not be feasible to control nature and to stop the
development of natural phenomena but the efforts could be made to avoid disasters and
alleviate their effects on human lives, infrastructure and property. Rising frequency, amplitude
and number of natural disasters and attendant problem coupled with loss of human lives
prompted the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim 1990s as the International
Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) through a resolution 44/236 of December 22,
1989 to focus on all issues related to natural disaster reduction. In spite of IDNDR, there had
been a string of major disaster throughout the decade. Nevertheless, by establishing the rich
disaster management related traditions and by spreading public awareness the IDNDR
provided required stimulus for disaster reduction. It is almost impossible to prevent the
occurrence of natural disasters and their damages. However it is possible to reduce the impact
of disasters by adopting suitable disaster mitigation strategies. The disaster mitigation works
mainly address the following: (i) minimise the potential risks by developing disaster early
warning strategies, (ii) prepare and implement developmental plans to provide resilience to
such disasters, (iii) mobilise resources including communication and tele-medicinal services
and (iv) to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reduction. Disaster management on the other
hand involves: (i) pre-disaster planning, preparedness, monitoring including relief management
capability. (ii) prediction and early warning. (iii) damage assessment and relief management.
Disaster reduction is a systematic work which involves with different regions, different
professions and different scientific fields, and has become an important measure for human,
society and nature sustainable development.

Role of Space Technology

Space systems from their vantage position have unambiguously demonstrated their capability
in providing vital information and services for disaster management ( Fig.1).The Earth
Observation satellites provide comprehensive, synoptic and multi temporal coverage of large
areas in real time and at frequent intervals and 'thus' - have become valuable for continuous
monitoring of atmospheric as well as surface parameters related to natural disasters(Table-1).
Geo-stationary satellites provide continuous and synoptic observations over large areas on
weather including cyclone-monitoring. Polar orbiting satellites have the advantage of providing
much higher resolution imageries, even though at low temporal frequency, which could be used
for detailed monitoring, damage assessment and long-term relief management. The vast
capabilities of communication satellites are available for timely dissemination of early warning
and real-time coordination of relief operations. The advent of Very Small Aperture Terminals
(VSAT) and Ultra Small Aperture Terminals (USAT) and phased - array antennae have
enhanced the capability further by offering low cost, viable technological solutions towards
management and mitigation of disasters. Satellite communication capabilities-fixed and mobile
are vital for effective communication, especially in data collection, distress alerting, position
location and co-ordinating relief operations in the field. In addition, Search and Rescue satellites
provide capabilities such as position determination facilities onboard which could be useful in a
variety of land, sea and air distress situations.

Table 1. Applications of space remote sensing in disaster management

Disaster Prevention Preparedness (Warning) Relief
Mapping geological Geodynamic measurements Locate stricken areas,
Earthquakes
lineaments land use ofstrain accumulation mapdamage
Mapping lava flows,
Volcanic Topographi and land Detection/measurement of
ashfalls and lahars,map
eruptions use maps gaseous emissions
damage
Topographic and
Landslides Rainfall,slope stability Mapping slide area
land use maps
Flash floods Land use maps Local rainfall measurements Map flood damage
Flood plain maps; Regional
Major floods Map extent of floods
land use maps rainfall;evapotranspiration
Land use and land Sea state;ocean surface wind
Storm surge Map extent of damage
cover maps velocities
Hurricanes Synoptic weather forecasts Map extent of damage
Nowcasts; local weather Local Map amount, extent of
Tornadoes
weather observations damage
Monitoring vegetative
Drought Long ranged climate models
biomass;

Normal -Operational or needs very little research

Underlined -Research and development required
Bold -Requires improved observation capability
Italics -Requires improved spatial or temporal resolution

Land and slide

Landslide is a geological phenomenon, which occurs as a result of ground movement. It can
occur as rock falls, failure of unstable slopes, sand and debris flows on slopes (Renwick et al ,
1982), etc. Landslides can cause a lot of damages with direct and indirect effects on human
settlements and physical infrastructure. Landslides are very predominant where slope stability
has been compromised. The Natural causes of landslides include
  Erosion of the ground/slopes by flood water, rivers or ocean waves
 Ground water pressure that destabilize sloppy grounds
 Slopes weakening through heavy rainfalls , snowmelts, etc
 Earthquakes that destabilize the slopes

In Southeastern Nigeria the major cause of landslides is gully erosion. There is a widespread
occurrence of large and deep gullies in the area and the annual impact of rainfall induced floods
weaken the ground around the gully sites and slopes resulting in landslides in many locations
(Igbokwe et al, 2003, 2008). The porosity of the soil and moisture content as well as slope
angles facilitates the occurrence of landslides in the area (Fig.1). Similarly human activities from
massive urbanization and agricultural practices alter the terrain and weaken slopes thereby
leaving the land prone to landslides. The impact is felt both in the developed and the
undeveloped areas causing damages to properties and physical infrastructures and sometimes
leading to loss of life.

Fig. 1 . Weakened Slopes collapse under the impact of rainwater in Gullied areas Anambra State in Southeastern
Nigeria (Source: Igbokwe et al, 2008)

Remote sensing has been used to study, evaluate and model landslide susceptibility in different
parts of the world. For example Gao and Lo (1995) were able to predict landslide probabilities
of the mountain terrain of Nelson County, Central Virginia, USA. Similarly, Melzner et al (2006)
performed landslide susceptibility analysis using remote sensing derived data and GIS
techniques in South Viti Levu, Figi Islands. The study used aerial photography to create a digital
landslide inventory map of the area.
The purpose of this study is to map the landslide potential of parts of Anambra State in
Southeastern Nigeria, as part of a comprehensive investigation and mapping of gully erosion in
Southeastern Nigeria. The study is to classify the area into landslide potentials according to
their degree of susceptibility. For this purpose five classes were identified;

1. Least susceptible Areas

2. Less
3. Average
4. More
5. Most susceptible Areas

. The Study Area

The area selected for this study is located within the heavily gullied parts of Anambra State in
Southeastern Nigeria. The geographic location is approximately between latitudes 5o 51’ N and
6o 08’N and longitudes 6o 50’E and 7o 10’ E (see fig. 2) . It lies within the tropical region. Early
rainfall occur usually in January/February with full commencement of rainy season in March and
stopping in November of each year. The dry season lasts between four to five months. The
average highest annual rainfall usually recorded around July to October is about 1952 mm.
 Fig. 2 Location of the Study Area

The study area is heavily populated and has large network of roads and dense concentration of
residential buildings.

3. Materials and Methods

The materials used for the study include Satellite images, topographic data and field data
collected from the ground. The satellite images used are Landsat –ETM+ dataset obtained in
2001 and Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) image data of 2002. The method
employed for the study is illustrated in figure 3 bellow

Fig. 3 Procedure for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping

The Landsat-ETM+ dataset was georeferenced to Minna national UTM datum and the study
area windowed from the georeferenced image. The image window was then subjected to some
pre-processing and then demarcated into areas affected by landslides and gullying. The SRTM
image was used to generate DTM at 10m interval and then used to extract the terrain elevation,
slope gradients, aspects and configuration. These together with the field data were integrated
into the demarcated image to generate a detailed classified landslide susceptibility data.

Fig. 4. Landsat –ETM+ Composite of the Study Area

Fig. 5 SRTM Data of the Study Area

4. Results and Discussion

Figure 6 below shows the final landslide susceptibility map of the study area. The result shows
that the most susceptible areas to landslides are where the terrain undulation is high. In these
areas the impact of rainfall induced flood water is high and slope failures are very predominant.
There are also wide spread occurrence of deep and wide gullies in this area, as more and more
sloppy grounds cave in after being weakened by the impact of rainfall. Areas that are of
average, less or least susceptibility are found mainly in the low lying grounds. These are mostly
developed and inhabited areas and human activities contribute to incidences of landslides in
the area. Table 1 shows the different areas of susceptibility and the percentage of the total
areas occupied. The table revealed that most susceptible areas occupy about 11.98 % of the
area studied or 9827.088 Hectares, while more susceptible areas are found in 29.58 % of
 Fig. 6. Landslide Susceptibility Map

Table 1. Percentage Coverage of Landslide Susceptible Areas

the study area. Average susceptible areas occupy a total of 25.74 % of the study area or about
21104.772 Hectares. Less and Least Susceptible areas together occupy a total of 31.43 % of
the study area or about 25771.475 Hectares of land. The implications of these results are
enormous. The area is heavily populated with extensive network of roads and dense
concentration of residential houses. As a result, slope failures and landslides have caused
extensive damage with each rainy season. Some do result in loss of lives.

The result also confirmed that medium scaled remotely sensed data can be used to analyse
areas susceptible to landslide in Southeastern Nigeria. This is important because of difficulty to
access very high resolution remote sensing data over these areas.

Acknowledgement
The fund for this study was provided by the National Space Research and Development
Agency (NASRDA), Abuja, Nigeria as part of the comprehensive mapping of impact of gully
erosion in Southeastern Nigeria.

References
Gao, J., and Lo, C. P. (1995). Micro-scaled Modelling of Terrain Susceptibility to Landsliding
from a DEM: A GIS approach. Geocarto International, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp 15 – 30

Igbokwe, J. I., Ojiako, J. C. and V. C. Nnodu (2003). Monitoring, Characterisation and

Controlling of Floodwater Erosions Using Remote Sensing Techniques. Proceedings of the
Technical Session of 38th Annual Conference of Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, Lokoja,
Nigeria, pp. 73 –79
Igbokwe, J. I., J. O. Akinyede, B. Dang, T. Alaga, M. N. Ono, V. C. Nnodu, and L. O. Anike
(2008). Mapping and Monitoring of The Impact of Gully Erosion in Southeastern Nigeria with
Satellite Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System. International Archives of
Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII, Part B8,
Beijing 2008, pp 865 - 871.

Melzner, S., T. Glade and M. Bonte-Grapentin (2006). Landslide Susceptibility Analysis Using
Remote Sensing Derived Data and GIS Techniques – Navua Catchment, South Viti Levu, Figi
Islands.

Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 8, 04059.

Renwick, W., Brumbaugh, R. and Loeher, L. (1982). Landslide Morphology and Processes on
Santa Cruz Island, California. Geografiska Annaler. Series A, Physical Geography, Vol. 64,
No.3 / 4, pp 149 - 159

Rohit Kumer and Sangram Ganguly (1996). An Integrated Approach with GIS and Remote
Sensing Techniques for Landslide Hazard Zonation.

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A landslide potentiality mapping on Mauritius

Island [4th May]

Mountain and foothill slopes occupy a significant percentage of the surface relief of Mauritius
Island and according to Saddul (1995), the landslide prone areas are those that have terrain
slope angle exceeding 20°, where specifically areas with slope = 30° are definitely prone to
landslide while areas with slope in the range 20-30° are prone depending on the soil and land
cover type. Mauritius has a total surface area of 1868 km2 and regions with slope = 20° make
up 108.83 km2, which is 5.83 % of the Island’s total surface area (Figure 1).
 Figure 1 - Terrain slope angle in degrees.

Although the landslide prone areas are known, what is unknown so far is the potentiality of land
sliding for these prone areas. The objective of this work is to map the landslide potentiality for
such landslide prone areas. An initial methodology based on slope and rainfall amount was
devised to create a preliminary landslide risk map for Mauritius (Rughooputh et al., 2008). The
methodology used in work is based on the work accomplished so far by Saddul (1995).
Specifically the latter has concluded that in addition to slope = 20°, the factors crucial for
landslide are: when the soil layer is weathered, unconsolidated, clayley, tuffaceous and consists
of colluvial deposits; when the geology strata is hard, compact and consolidated; when rainfall
amount received is high and/or frequent; when the land cover is barren and is not protecting the
soil and finally; when land use practices, such as, construction, roads traffic vibration and
agricultural practices have disturbed the soil.

Thus, by taking into consideration the latter information, a Landslide Potentiality Index (LPI)
map has been created based on a factorial indexing equation with five geospatial input
parameters: rainfall amount, terrain slope angle, permeability of geology strata, soil & land
cover type. The equation was run in a GIS, which enable the handling, manipulation, analysis
and combination of the input geospatial data. The LPI equation output is an index ranging from
1 to 10 such that 1 is associated with the lowest risk and 10 with the highest risk of landslide. A
region that has not been assigned an index has no risk of land sliding. As such, the indices on
the LPI map show lands that can potentially slide and do not specifically show all lands that are
at risk to sliding lands from uphill.

2. Study area description

2.1 Location, geology and geomorphology

Mainland Mauritius is situated southwest in the Indian Ocean between latitudes 19° 58.8’ and
20° 31.7’ S and longitudes 57° 18.0’ and 57° 46.5’ E, approximately 850 Km east of
Madagascar (see location plan in figure 2). The Island has an elliptical shape with its major axis
about 63 Km long, its minor axis about 43 Km and its surface area 1868 Km2.
 Figure 2 - Upper right inset shows location map of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Main
figure shows a DEM hillshade

Various authors (e.g., Willaime, 1984; Saddul, 1995) have reported that the island is entirely of
volcanic origin with a four stage geochronology consisting of: The Breccia Series (10 – 7.8
Million Years (MY) ago); The Old Lava Series (7.6 – 5 MY ago); The Early Lava Series (3.5 –
1.7 MY ago); and The Recent Lava Series with Intermediate Lavas (0.7 – 0.5 MY ago) and Late
Lavas (0.1 – 0.025 MY ago). The Breccia Series caused the emergence of the island but were
later entirely covered with the Old Lava Series. The latter gave rise to the mountain ranges and
at present Old Lavas cover 21% of the island. Thereafter, Early Lavas Series consisting of
compact olivine basalts were emitted and at present they cover 4% of the island. After an
erosional interval of 1 MY, Recent Lava Series were emitted and shaped the island. The latter
series started with compact Intermediate Lavas, which make up 35% of the island, followed by
Late Lavas which occupy 40% of the island. Late Lavas are different from the Intermediate
Lavas in that they are highly vesiculated and are characterised by many rocky areas with an
almost complete absence of surface drainage. The only materials that are not of volcanic origin
are coral reefs, sandy beaches, and some consolidated coral and shell debris in isolated
remnant raised beaches (Saddul, 1995).

2.2 Climate, soils, surface drainage and land use

The climate of mainland Mauritius is of the humid tropical type and is under the influence of
atmospheric circulations and static factors such as altitude, exposure to the South East Trade
Winds and distance from the sea (Willaime, 1984). In the summer period from November to
May, tropical cyclones are the most important climatologic features and during the winter
period, from April to October, the South East Trade Winds predominates accompanied with few
rainfall amounts that are associated with frontal systems. Long-term (30 years) mean annual
rainfall depth varies from 1500 mm on the eastern coast to 4000 mm in the central uplands and
800 mm on the western coast. This spatial variation is attributed to orographic effects which are
caused by an eastern mountain range and the ‘ridge’ of the central uplands. Inter-annual
variation in rainfall amount depends on the passage of cyclones which can multiply the “normal”
monthly rainfall depth by 2 to 3 (Willaime, 1984; Padya, 1989). Concerning intra-annual
variability, on average 80% of mean annual rainfall is received during the summer period.
February is the wettest month and has the highest probability of cyclone formation and October
is the driest month of the year. There is also a strong spatial intra-annual variation in rainfall
especially in the western and northern regions where very little rainfall is received in winter. The
rainy regions in the central uplands shows, however, a less pronounced intra-annual variability
and where, even in winter, there is relatively high rainfall recorded (compared to the northern
and western regions).

Halais and Davy (1969) used the formula of Thornthwaite of 1948 to map the local climate and
found that the super-humid class A occupies 46% of the total area; the humid classes B
occupies 35%, the sub-humid class C occupies 19%; and the semi-arid class D occurs in only
one small area in the west and is of negligible area.

Parish and Feillafé (1965) mapped three soils order namely; Zonal, Intrazonal and Azonal soils.
Zonal soils are matured latosols that have permitted the fullest expression of climate and
vegetation as soil forming factors such that there are almost no undecomposed minerals left in
the soil complex. These soils make up approximately 33% of island’s surface area. Intrazonal
soils are developing under conditions where the effects of climate and vegetation are masked
by local factors of environment such as relief, drainage and composition of parent material. The
Intrazonal soils have materials still in the process of weathering and they occupy about 47% of
the island’s surface. The Azonal soil groups are located mostly on Old Lavas and have little or
no profile development and they are: eroded rough broken land of mountains and gorges; soils
from recent alluvium; and coral deposits or soils of unconsolidated deposits other than alluvium
(Parrish and Feillafé, 1965).

Surface drainage is essentially radial from the central tableland. Most rivers are deeply incised
with steep gradients and consequently with many cascades and waterfalls. Torrential flows with
severe bank erosions are common during the storms and cyclones of the rainy seasons. The
two biggest river basins have sizes of 166 and 116 Km2 (Arlidge and Wong You Cheong,
1975). Most of the island’s indigenous vegetation has been removed to make room for an
extensive sugarcane cultivation which to-date occupies 55% of the island and 98% of its
cultivated lands. The other cultivations are tea, vegetables and fruits plantations. Only about 4%
of indigenous vegetation remains. Scrubs cover about 11% of the island, forest occupies 27%
(including indigenous vegetation), built-up areas occupy 6% and the rest are water bodies,
wetlands and sandy beaches (Ministry of Agriculture & Natural Resources, 1999; Venkatasamy,
1991).

Landslide susceptibility mapping using the fuzzy gamma

operation in a GIS, Kakan catchment area, Iran
Majid H. Tangestani
Dept. of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Shiraz University, 71454 Shiraz, Iran
Tel: +98 711 2284572, Fax: +98 711 2280926, E-mail: tangestani@geology.susc.ac.ir

Introduction
Landslide hazard and risk zoning and mapping for urban and rural areas is widely performed
around the world (Siddle et al 1991, Lee et al 1991, Hutchinson and Chandler 1991, Hutchinson
et al 1991, Morgan et al 1992, Carrara et al 1991, and 1992, Moon et al 1992). A landslide
zonation map divides the land surface into zones of varying degrees of stability, based on an
estimated significance of casuative factors in inducing instability. Engineers, earth scientists,
and planners are interested in assessment of landslide susceptibility and hazard because of
two purposes: (1) The landslide hazard maps identify and delineate unstable hazard-prone
areas, so that environmental regeneration programs can be initiated adopting suitable
mitigation measures; (2) These maps help planners to choose favourable locations for siting
development schemes, such as building and road construction. Even if the hazardous areas
can not be avoided altogether, their recognition in the initial stages of planning may help to
adopt suitabl e precautionary measures.

The main factors which influence landsliding are discussed in Varnes (1984) and Hutchinson
(1995). Normally the most important factors are bedrock geology (lithology, structure, degree of
weathering), geomorphology (slope gradient, aspect, relative relief), soil (depth, structure,
permeability, porosity), land use and land cover, and hydrologic conditions.

Soeters and van Westen (1996) and Leroi (1996) discuss the methods which can be used to
assess probability of landsliding. Traditional methods of landslide hazard mapping have been
based on extensive fieldwork by expert geologists in potentially dangerous areas. This is slow,
expensive and very labor intensive operation, and as such can not be widely applied. With the
increasing availability of high resolution spatial data sets, GIS, and computers with large and
fast processing capacity, it is becoming possible to partially automate the landslide hazard and
susceptibility mapping process and minimize fieldwork. Several studies have used GIS and
statistics for landslide hazard and susceptibility mapping (Wadge 1988, Gupta and Joshi 1990,
Wang Shu-Quiang and Unwin 1992, Pachauri and Pant 1992, Binaghi et al 1998, Guzzetti et al
1999, Skellariou and Ferentinou 2001, Gritzer et al 2001), but mapping studies using fuzzy
approaches are limited (for example, Juang et al 1992, Davis and Keller 1997, Binaghi et al
1998, Ercanoglu and Gokceoglu 2002).

Northwestern Fars province, Iran, is affected by landslides. The Kakan area, 51° 42' 30" E to
51° 51' 30" E, and 30° 32' 30" N to 30° 43' 00" N, is mountainous and located in the geological
Zagros Folded zone, and is subjected to heavy precipitation during fall and winter. A landslide
susceptibility map was required as part of comprehensive detailed investigations for the
development plans by local government. The objective of the present study is to generate the
landslide susceptibility map of a landslide-prone area of 114 km2 in the Kakan catchment area,
based on fuzzy approach. The study includes four main steps: (1) producing the causal factors
maps by field studies and digital data processing; (2) evaluating the fuzzy membership
functions for evidence maps using a modified method initially discussed by Anabalgan (1992);
(3) the use of GIS to produce the index maps and generating the susceptibility map; (4)
controlling the reliability of the susceptibility map.

Landslide susceptibility mapping using the fuzzy gamma

operation in a GIS, Kakan catchment area, Iran

Theory and Methodology

Quantitative prediction models for landslide hazard are based on a spatial database consisting
of several layers of digital maps representing the casual factors of the occurrence of landslides.
Three mathematical frameworks used for the models are (1) probability theory; (2) fuzzy set
theory; (3) Dempster-Shafer evidential theory. Corresponding to the three theories, the
conditional probability function, the fuzzy membership function, or the belief function are used to
represent a quantitative measure of future landslide hazard. These functions representing the
landslide hazard were termed favourability functions. The favourability functions can be
estimated in many different ways depending upon the availability of the input data and upon the
assumptions made in the processes of modelling and estimation. All models are based on two
basic assumptions: (1) that future landslides will occur under circumstances similar to the ones
of past landslides in either the study area or in areas in which the experts have obtained their
knowledge on the relationship between the causal factors and the occurrences of the
landslides; and (2) that the spatial data representing the causal factors contained in the GIS
database can be used to formulate the future landslide.

When producing landslide susceptibility maps, some researchers have employed quantitative
methods (Carrara et al 1991; Anbalagan 1992; Juang et al 1992; Maharaj 1993; Gokceoglu and
Aksoy 1996; van Westen et al 1997; Atkinson and Massari 1998; Pachauri et al 1998; Guzzetti
et al 1999; Gritzner et al 2001; Ercanoglu and Gokceoglu 2002). All the available methods for
regional landslide assessment have some uncertainties arising from lack of knowledge and
variability. This is because regional landslide assessments require some generalizations and
simplifications, although these assessments are complex. For this reason, a perfect
assessment method for landslide susceptibility does not exist. The fuzzy logic introduced by
Zadeh (1965) is one of the tools to solve these complex problems. The idea of fuzzy logic is to
consider the spatial objects on a map as members of a set. In classical set theory, an object is
a member of a set if it has a membership value of 1, or not a member if it has a membership
value of 0. In fuzzy set theory, membership can take on any value between 0 and 1 reflecting
the degree of certainty of membership. Fuzzy set theory employs the idea of a membership
function that expresses the degree of membership with respect to some attribute of interest.
With maps, generally the attribute of interest is measured over discrete intervals, and the
membership function can be expressed as a table relating map classes to membership values.

The idea of using fuzzy logic in landslide susceptibility mapping is to consider the spatial
objects on a map as members of a set. For example, the spatial objects could be areas on an
evidence map and the set defined as “ areas susceptible to landslide”. Fuzzy membership
values must lie in the range (0,1), but there are no practical constraints on the choice of fuzzy
membership values. Values are simply chosen to reflect the degree of membership of a set,
based on subjective judgment. Anabalgan (1992) introduced a landslide hazard evaluation
factor (LHEF) rating scheme for some of the landslide causal factors. The LHEF rating scheme
is a numerical system which is based on major inherent causative factors of slope instability
such as geology, slope morphometry, relative relief, land use, land cover and groundwater
conditions. Numerical ratings suggested by LHEF scheme were modified as fuzzy membership
functions for each map class. Those evidence maps not listed in Anabalgan (1992) were
classified and rated according to the experiences gained from the study of factors and their
impact on landslides with conditions anticipated in the area of study.