From Landslide Inventories to Landslide Risk Assessment; An Attempt to Support Methodological Development in India

India is now housing 17% of the world’s population. Landslides are an increasing concern in India due to the rapid population expansion in hilly and mountainous terrain. Landslides affect vast areas within India, in particular in the Himalayan chain in the North and Eastern part of the country and the Western Ghats in the Southwest. The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has been designated as agency responsible for landslide inventory, susceptibility and hazard assessment. Until recently their landslide susceptibility assessment was based on a heuristic approach using fixed weights or ranking of geofactors, following guidelines of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). However, this method is disputed as it doesn’t provide accurate results.