Estimating the Quality of the Most Popular Machine Learning Algorithms for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping in 2018 Mw 7.5 Palu Earthquake

Abstract

The Mw 7.5 Palu earthquake that occurred on 28 September 2018 (UTC 10:02) on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, triggered approximately 15,600 landslides, causing about 4000 fatalities and widespread destruction. The primary objective of this study is to perform landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) associated with this event and assess the performance of the most widely used machine learning algorithms of logistic regression (LR) and random forest (RF). Eight controlling factors were considered, including elevation, hillslope gradient, aspect, relief, distance to rivers, peak ground velocity (PGV), peak ground acceleration (PGA), and lithology. To evaluate model uncertainty, training samples were randomly selected and used to establish the models 20 times, resulting in 20 susceptibility maps for different models. The quality of the landslide susceptibility maps was evaluated using several metrics, including the mean landslide susceptibility index (LSI), modelling uncertainty, and predictive accuracy. The results demonstrate that both models effectively capture the actual distribution of landslides, with areas exhibiting high LSI predominantly concentrated on both sides of the seismogenic fault. The RF model exhibits less sensitivity to changes in training samples, whereas the LR model displays significant variation in LSI with sample changes. Overall, both models demonstrate satisfactory performance; however, the RF model exhibits superior predictive capability compared to the LR model.