Landslide hazard and community-based risk reduction effort in Karanganyar and the surrounding area, central Java, Indonesia

Karanganyar and the surrounding area are situated in a dynamic volcanic arc region, where landslide frequently occurs during the rainy season. The rain-induced landslide disasters have been resulting in 65 fatalities and a substantial socioeconomical loss in last December 2007. Again, in early February 2009, 6 more people died, hundreds of people temporary evacuated and tens of houses damaged due to the rain-induced landslide. Accordingly, inter-disciplinary approach for geological, geotechnical and social investigations were undertaken with the goal for improving community resilience in the landslide vulnerable villages. Landslide hazard mapping and community-based landslide mitigation were conducted to reduce the risk of landslides. The hazard mapping was carried out based on the susceptibility assessment with respect to the conditions of slope inclination, types and engineering properties of lithology/soil as well as the types of landuse. All of those parameters were analyzed by applying weighing and scoring system which were calculated by semi qualitative approach (Analytical Hierarchical Process). It was found that the weathered andesitic-steep slope (steeper than 30o) was identified as the highest susceptible slope for rapid landslide, whilst the gentle colluvial slope with inter-stratification of tuffaceous clay-silt was found to be the susceptible slope for creeping. Finally, a programme for landslide risk reduction and control were developed with special emphasize on community-based landslide mitigation and early warning system. It should be highlighted that the social approach needs to be properly addressed in order to guarantee the effectiveness of landslide risk reduction.