Combining Statistical, Displacement and Damage Analyses to Study Slow-Moving Landslides Interacting with Roads: Two Case Studies in Southern Italy

Abstract

Slow-moving landslides are widespread natural hazards that can affect social and economic activities, causing damage to structures and infrastructures. This paper aims at proposing a procedure to analyze road damage induced by slow-moving landslides based on the joint use of landslide susceptibility maps, a road-damage database developed using Google Street View images and ground-displacement measurements derived from the interferometric processing of satellite SAR images. The procedure is applied to the municipalities of Vaglio Basilicata and Trivigno in the Basilicata region (southern Italy) following a matrix-based approach. First, a susceptibility analysis is carried out at the municipal scale, using data from landslide inventories and thematic information available over the entire municipalities. Then, the susceptibility index, the class of movement and the level of damage are calculated for the territorial units corresponding to the road corridors under investigation. Finally, the road networks are divided into stretches, each one characterized by a specific level of risk (or attention required) following the aggregation of the information provided by the performed analyses. The results highlight the importance of integrating all of these different approaches and data for obtaining quantitative information on the spatial and temporal behavior of slow-moving landslides affecting road networks.