Use of Geoinformatics for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping: A Case Study of Murree, Northern Area, Pakistan

Landsliding is considered as one of the major natural hazards that endanger human life and property, particularly in mountainous regions which have high precipitation rate and are seismically active. This paper identifies landslide-prone areas in Murree, a northern area of Pakistan and presents landslide susceptibility mapping technique using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing. The landslide triggering factors considered in this study are elevation, slope, geology (lithology), land use and land cover, seismotectonic settings and vegetation index. A spatial database using Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed. Slope was derived from topographical datasets; lithology and land use/land cover from geological datasets and vegetation index are from Landsat 8 imagery. Then finally, by using weight of evidence (WoE) method, landslide susceptibility map was developed. The final landslide susceptibility map has five classes from very low to very high landslide susceptibility. The results indicate that though only 8% of the study area falls in very high susceptible zone, it has a high land use percentage. This poses a serious threat to infrastructure and human life. Results of this study would be helpful in disaster risk management, geohazard studies and construction and regional planning.