Developing a Landslide Susceptibility Map Using the Analytic Hierarchical Process in Ta Van and Hau Thao Communes, Sapa, Vietnam

Abstract

Landslides are considered one of the most serious problems in the mountainous regions of the northern part of Vietnam due to the special topographic and geological conditions associated with the occurrence of tropical storms, steep slopes on hillsides, and human activities. This study initially identified areas susceptible to landslides in Ta Van Commune, Sapa District, Lao Cai Region using Analytical Hierarchy Analysis. Ten triggering and conditioning parameters were analyzed: elevation, slope, aspect, lithology, valley depth, relief amplitude, distance to roads, distance to faults, land use, and precipitation. The consistency index (CI) was 0.0995, indicating that no inconsistency in the decision-making process was detected during computation. The consistency ratio (CR) was computed for all factors and their classes were less than 0.1. The landslide susceptibility index (LSI) was computed and reclassified into five categories: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. Approximately 9.9% of the whole area would be prone to landslide occurrence when the LSI value indicated at very high and high landslide susceptibility. The area under curve (AUC) of 0.75 illustrated that the used model provided good results for landslide susceptibility mapping in the study area. The results revealed that the predicted susceptibility levels were in good agreement with past landslides. The output also illustrated a gradual decrease in the density of landslide from the very high to the very low susceptible regions, which showed a considerable separation in the density values. Among the five classes, the highest landslide density of 0.01274 belonged to the very high susceptibility zone, followed by 0.00272 for the high susceptibility zone. The landslide susceptibility map presented in this paper would help local authorities adequately plan their landslide management process, especially in the very high and high susceptible zones.