Rapid landslide risk zoning toward multi-slope units of the Neikuihui tribe for preliminary disaster management

Abstract

Taiwan features steep terrain and a fragile geological environment accompanied by frequent earthquakes and typhoons annually. Meanwhile, with the booming economy and rapid population growth, activities pivot from metropolises to Taiwan's suburban and mountain areas. However, for example, the Neikuihui tribe in northern Taiwan experiences landslide disasters during extreme rainfall events. To rapidly examine landslide risk in the tribe area for preliminary disaster management, the well-known principle of risk, which comprises hazard, exposure, and vulnerability, was carefully adapted to scrutinize 14 slope units around the Neikuihui tribe region. The framework of risk zoning is improved based on the previous quantified findings regarding the inventory of the deep-seated landslides in southern Taiwan. Moreover, the proposed procedures comprehensively assess susceptibility, activity, exposure, and vulnerability of each slope unit. The rapid risk zoning analysis of multi-slope units delivers a sloping unit with a high level of landslide risk, and this slope unit did suffer from landslide disasters in the 2016 typhoon event. This study preliminarily proves that the proposed framework and details of rapid risk zoning can help identify a relatively high-risk slope unit around a tribal region and address pre-countermeasures for disaster management.