Assessment of factors causing landslides using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method

Abstract

Landslides are Indonesia's second most common disaster in the last ten years. Landslides cause losses, reaching hundreds of billions and threatening human safety. For this reason, it is necessary to take action to reduce the negative impact of landslides. Physical and non-physical mitigation can occur before, during, and after a disaster. The most essential thing in disaster mitigation is knowing the major factors that cause landslides. This research aims to analyze the major and minor factors that cause landslides using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Likert scale. Respondents in this research are experts in disasters, especially landslides—respondents from universities in Indonesia, practitioners, and people involved in disaster mitigation. Validity and reliability tests were carried out on each question used in the questionnaire. The research results show that the landslide disaster was caused by a disruption in balance that occurred due to internal and external disturbance factors. The major external factors that cause slope failures are the cutting of hills and changes in land use to built-up areas. In contrast, the major internal factors that trigger landslides are heavy rainfall and steep topographic conditions. The results of this research in the form of weight and scoring values for each factor causing landslides can be used as a reference for mapping landslide areas to identify areas with the potential for landslides.