A landslide database for landslide hazard assessment

Assessing the hazard and risk of slope instability and landsliding requires a consideration of basic geological and geotechnical factors which control stability as well as external agents or events which decrease stability and which may trigger landsliding. Prediction of slope performance is difficult and it is, therefore, considered appropriate to develop approaches for hazard and risk assessment. This paper is concerned primarily with one important aspect or element of such an approach. The essential and desirable features of a landslide database are outlined with particular reference to an urban area in New South Wales, Australia. The procedures and processes for developing such a database are introduced and attention is given to uncertainties which are associated with the processes of identification, mapping and describing landslide sites. Several features of a database which was recently developed are described and discussed.