Assessment of Landslide Susceptibility using Weight of Evidence and Frequency Ratio Model in Shahpur Valley, Eastern Hindu Kush

Abstract

This study assessed landslide susceptibility using Weight of Evidence (WoE) and Frequency Ratio (FR) model in Shahpur valley, situated in the eastern Hindu Kush. Here, the landslides are recurrent phenomena that disrupt the natural environment and causes huge property damages as well as human losses every year. These damages are expected to increase due to the high rate of deforestation in the region, population growth, agricultural expansion and infrastructural development on the slopes. Initially, the landslide inventory map was prepared from the SPOT-5 satellite image and was verified from frequent field visits. Seven landslide contributing factors including surface geology, fault lines, slope aspect and gradient, land use, proximity to roads and streams were selected. To analyze the relationship between landslide occurrence with its causal factors, WoE and FR models were used. Based on WoE and FR model landslide susceptibility zonation maps were prepared and reclassified into very low to very high landslide susceptible zones. Finally, the resultant maps of landslide susceptibility were validated using the success rate curve and prediction rate curve approach to validate the models.

Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) of Swat District, Hindu Kush Himalayan region of Pakistan, using GIS-based bivariate modeling

“…Landslide hazard is expected to grow due to anthropogenic interventions such as deforestation, population growth, urbanization, etc. and natural phenomena due to topographic, geologic, and climatic factors (Rahman et al, 2020;Xie et al, 2021aXie et al, , 2021bGuo et al, 2022;Ren et al, 2022;Wahla et al, 2022). Since the 20th century, mortality caused landslides has reached 6.2 million and has caused up to 10 billion US dollars of damage.…”