LANDSLIDE INVENTORY IN AN URBAN SETTING IN THE CONTEXT OF CHITTAGONG METROPOLITAN AREA, BANGLADESH

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chittagong Metropolitan Area (CMA) is vulnerable to landslide hazards with an increasing trend infrequency and damage. Devastating landslides have hit CMA repeatedly in recent years. Under a project financed through ICIMOD of Nepal, detail survey has been conducted to prepare an inventory of landslides in CMA. Landslide events have been observed to occurattimes of much higher rainfall amount compared to the monthly average. Moreover, rapid urbanization, increased population density, improper land-use, cutting of hills, indiscriminate deforestation and agricultural practices are aggravating the landslide vulnerability in CMA. A landslide inventory is helpful for landslide modelling, runoff modelling and urban land-use planning.A three step methodology, identifying past landslide events from news archive, information from local people and satellite image interpretation has been followed. An inventory of 57 landslide events has been prepared which includes landslide locations, types, dimension, activity, potential causes of landslides, triggering mechanism and slope stabilizing mechanism. This inventory is expected to be a useful resource for future landslide studies in this port city of Bangladesh.