Landslide process and impacts: A proposed classification method

Various impacts of landslides have increased in past decades due to the rapid growth of urbanization in the developing world. Landslide effects have damaged many aspects of human life and the natural environment, and many difficulties remain for accurate assessments and evaluations. Many investigations by landslide researchers have attempted to achieve a comprehensive view of landslide consequences, however, the lack of further systematic studies have resulted in a limited view. Hence, this study considers an alternative classification theory concerning significant concepts of landslide hazard and risk through the presentation of numerous case studies. This classification method categorizes landslide impacts into two main groups as general and particular, and discusses them in an environmental and socio-economic framework The findings illustrate that the rate of physical or socio-economic losses critically impact populated regions and civilization centers. This paper attempts to describe a systematic organizational approach in framing landslide impacts in order to more reliably describe and integrate analysis and mitigation measures. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.