Diagnosis of landslide risk for individual buildings: insights from Prahova Subcarpathians, Romania

The aim of this study is to quantify the landslide risk for individual buildings using spatial data in a GIS environment. A landslide-prone area from Prahova Rivers’ Subcarpathian Valley was chosen because of its associated landslide hazards and its impact upon human settlements and activities. The bivariate landslide susceptibility index (LSI) was applied to calculate the spatial probability of landslides occurrence. The Landslide Susceptibility Index map was produced by numerically adding the weighted thematic maps for slope gradient and aspect, water table, soil texture, lithology, built environment and land use. Validation curves were obtained using the random-split strategy for two combinations of variables: (a) all seven variables and (b) three variables which showed highest individual success rates with respect to landslides occurrences (slope gradient, water table and land use). The principal pre-disposing factors were found to be slope steepness and groundwater table. Vulnerability was established as the degree of loss to individual buildings resulting from a potential damaging landslide with a given return period in an area. Risk was calculated by multiplying the spatial probability of landslides by the vulnerability for each building and summing up the losses for the selected return period.