Landslide susceptibility and elements at risk: A brief review

Abstract

Since ancient time, the Darjeeling Himalaya has been subjected to landslide hazards and similar phenomena. The Balason river basin is situated in this region and suffered several types of large and small landslides. At the time of pre-independence landslides took place mostly in the areas where the setup of the physical environment was weak, less strong and more disturbed geological formations, rugged and high slope areas, low vegetation cover areas etc. These natural geo-environmental parameters play an important role in slope instability (Hays in Facing geologic and hydrologic hazards: earth-science considerations. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, 1981; Sarkar and Kanungo in Nat Hazard Manag 1–6, 2010). In recent times, the severity and the frequency of the landslide phenomena have been increased significantly.