Assessment of global landslide hazard and risk hotspots

Allocating resources for natural hazard risk management is of high priority among the development banks and international agencies working in developing countries. The paper presents the results of a study on global landslide hazard and risk mapping. The main objective of the study was to identify the countries and areas that are most exposed to risk from landslides. This involved a first-order, databased identification of geographic areas that form the global landslide risk disaster hotspots, with main emphasis on developing countries. The probability of landslide occurrence was estimated from modelling of physical processes combined with statistics from past experience. The main input data used in the landslide hazard assessment were topography and slope angles, extreme monthly precipitation, seismic activity, soil type, and hydrological condition.