Landslide Hazard Assessment Using GIS
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
The International Geotechnical Societies’ UNESCO working Party on World landslide inventory defined landslides as “the movement of a mass of rock, debris or earth down a slope”. (Sassa et.al., 2007). Landslides as described by the Dahal (2006) are a downward movement of rock materials or debris or soil along the slope, when shear stress exceeds shear strength of the material. Many classification of landslides have been found in literature among them are the classification given by Shape (1938), Hutchison (1968), D.J Varnes (1978) and fundamentally all these classification are based on the factors such as types of material, soil moisture, climate, geomorphic attributes (like Slope forms, weathering topographic profile), landslide morphology, type of movement, triggering mechanism and the speed of the movement.
Nepal is a country comprised of 83 precent hills and mountains, and steep terrain , fragile geology, and seasonal monsoon rainfall contribute the landslide potential (Dhakal et al., 2000). The construction of roads through the steep slope cutting has been another reason of the high landslides hazards along transportation line in Nepal. According to Dahal and Kafle (2003), in the year 2003, Muglin – NarayanGhat road of central Nepal was extensively damaged by rainfall triggered landslides. Likewise, a total of 213 landslides were noticed along this road section only on the same year. Among the many highways in Nepal, most are in the hilly areas except the east west Mahendra highway. Landslides during the monsoon season cause severe damage along these highways obstructing the traffic. Most major and severe are Krishnabhir landslide on prithvi Highway, Siddhababa landslide and Kerabari landslide on Butwal –Palpa section of the Siddhartha Highway along with many others. The economic losses due to these landslides are not quantified but the loss incurred may be much higher than ones’ imagination. Every year, DOR has to invest a lot
1.1 Background
The International Geotechnical Societies’ UNESCO working Party on World landslide inventory defined landslides as “the movement of a mass of rock, debris or earth down a slope”. (Sassa et.al., 2007). Landslides as described by the Dahal (2006) are a downward movement of rock materials or debris or soil along the slope, when shear stress exceeds shear strength of the material. Many classification of landslides have been found in literature among them are the classification given by Shape (1938), Hutchison (1968), D.J Varnes (1978) and fundamentally all these classification are based on the factors such as types of material, soil moisture, climate, geomorphic attributes (like Slope forms, weathering topographic profile), landslide morphology, type of movement, triggering mechanism and the speed of the movement.
Nepal is a country comprised of 83 precent hills and mountains, and steep terrain , fragile geology, and seasonal monsoon rainfall contribute the landslide potential (Dhakal et al., 2000). The construction of roads through the steep slope cutting has been another reason of the high landslides hazards along transportation line in Nepal. According to Dahal and Kafle (2003), in the year 2003, Muglin – NarayanGhat road of central Nepal was extensively damaged by rainfall triggered landslides. Likewise, a total of 213 landslides were noticed along this road section only on the same year. Among the many highways in Nepal, most are in the hilly areas except the east west Mahendra highway. Landslides during the monsoon season cause severe damage along these highways obstructing the traffic. Most major and severe are Krishnabhir landslide on prithvi Highway, Siddhababa landslide and Kerabari landslide on Butwal –Palpa section of the Siddhartha Highway along with many others. The economic losses due to these landslides are not quantified but the loss incurred may be much higher than ones’ imagination. Every year, DOR has to invest a lot
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