Probabilistic landslide hazards and risk mapping on Penang Island, Malaysia

This paper deals with landslide hazards and risk analysis of Penang Island, Malaysia using Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing data. Landslide locations in the study area were identified from interpretations of aerial photographs and field surveys. Topographical/geological data and satellite images were collected and processed using GIS and image processing tools. There are ten landslide inducing parameters which are considered for landslide hazard analysis. These parameters are topographic slope, aspect, curvature and distance from drainage, all derived from the topographic database; geology and distance from lineament, derived from the geologic database; landuse from Landsat satellite images; soil from the soil database; precipitation amount, derived from the rainfall database; and the vegetation index value from SPOT satellite images. Landslide susceptibility was analyzed using landslide-occurrence factors employing the probability-frequency ratio model. The results of the analysis were verified using the landslide location data and compared with the probabilistic model. The accuracy observed was 80.03%. The qualitative landslide hazard analysis was carried out using the frequency ratio model through the map overlay analysis in GIS environment. The accuracy of hazard map was 86.41%. Further, risk analysis was done by studying the landslide hazard map and damageable objects at risk. This information could be used to estimate the risk to population, property and existing infrastructure like transportation network.