Landslide risk assessment – Development of a hazard-consequence approach

Abstract

Several Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment methods have been developed and used in the State of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The Rail Services Australia Geotechnical Services and the Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW have each developed Risk Assessment procedures suitable to their own specific needs. A generic risk management methodology is presented in the Australian Standard/New Zealand Standard (AS/NZS) 4360:1995. An approach similar to the (AS/NZS) 4360:1995 Risk Management Standard has been applied by a NSW State Emergency Services geotechnical team (which included one of the writers) to 191 problem sites in the Wollongong Area, following a major rainstorm event in August 1998, (GTR, 1998). The writers at the University of Wollongong (UOW) are developing a more comprehensive hazard-consequence approach. This has required careful and precise definitions of the terms and parameters being used. It is the writers’ intention that this will lead to effective, efficient and consistent assessments of hazard and risk. Field Data Sheets based on the stated concepts are being developed and tested at several field sites. The formalisation of field data collection will provide a good mechanism for consistent data capture. Data collected in this manner is most suited for management in a database environment.