Abstract
Abstract. This study offers a semi-quantitative assessment of the physical vulnerability of buildings to landslides in a Portuguese municipality (Loures), as well as the quantitative landslide risk analysis computed as the product of the landslide hazard by the vulnerability and the economic value of the buildings. The hazard was assessed by combining the spatiotemporal probability and the frequency–magnitude relationship of the landslides. The physical vulnerability assessment was based on an inquiry of a pool of European landslide experts and a sub-pool of landslide experts who know the study area, and the answers' variability was assessed with standard deviation. The average vulnerability of the basic geographic entities was compared by changing the map unit and applying the vulnerability to all the buildings of a test site, the inventory of which was listed on the field. The economic value was calculated using an adaptation of the Portuguese Tax Services approach, and the risk was computed for different landslide magnitudes and different spatiotemporal probabilities. As a rule, the vulnerability values given by the sub-pool of experts who know the study area are higher than those given by the European experts, namely for the high-magnitude landslides. The obtained vulnerabilities vary from 0.2 to 1 as a function of the structural building types and the landslide magnitude, and are maximal for 10 and 20 m landslide depths. However, the highest risk was found for the landslides that are 3 m deep, because these landslides combine a relatively high frequency in the Loures municipality with a substantial potential damage.
Highlights
Landslides are natural phenomena that can cause costly damage when occurring in or impacting constructed areas
This work aims to contribute to the fulfilling of a research gap on the physical vulnerability assessment based on expert opinion
We aimed to evaluate the variability of the expert judgments, comparing the answers from the pool of landslide European experts with the answers from the subpool of landslide experts who know the study area, assessing the epistemic uncertainty in buildings’ vulnerability assessment and evaluating how vulnerability controls risk results
Summary
Landslides are natural phenomena that can cause costly damage when occurring in or impacting constructed areas. During the last three decades, the landslide risk (R) has been considered as the product of the landslide hazard (H), the vulnerability (V), and the value of the elements at risk (EV) (Varnes and the IAEG Commission on Landslides and other Mass-Movements, 1984; Michael-Leiba et al, 1999; Cardinali et al, 2002; Remondo et al, 2005; Uzielli et al, 2008; van Westen et al, 2008; Zêzere et al, 2008): R = H × V × EV, where R is the risk (annual loss of property value). Landslide hazard (H) is the probability of occurrence within a specified period of time and within a given area of a potentially damaging phenomenon (Varnes and the IAEG Commission on Landslides and other MassMovements, 1984) having a given magnitude (Jaiswal et al, 2011a), which is typically measured with the landslide area or the landslide volume (Lee and Jones, 2004; Li et al, 2010). The vulnerability (V) concept is defined in physical terms as the “degree of loss” of a given element or set of elements at risk exposed to the occurrence of a landslide of a given
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
