Analyzing Rainfall Threshold for Shallow Landslides Using Physically Based Modeling in Rasuwa District, Nepal

Abstract

On 25 April 2015, an M7.8 large earthquake happened in Nepal, and 4312 landslides were triggered during or after the earthquake. The 2015 earthquake happened years ago, but the risk of rainfall-induced landslides is still high. Rainfall-induced shallow landslides threaten both human lives and economy development, especially in the Rasuwa area. Due to financial conditions and data availability, a regional-scale rainfall threshold can be an effective method to reduce the risk of shallow landslides. A physically based model was used with limited data. The dynamic hydrological model provides the soil moisture and groundwater change, and the infinite slope stability model produces the factor of safety. Remote sensing data, field investigation, soil sample tests, and literature review were used in the model parameterization. The landslide stability condition of 2016 was simulated. In addition, intensity-antecedent rainfall thresholds were defined based on the physically based modelling output. Sixty groups of data were used for validation, and the 15-day intensity-antecedent rainfall threshold has the best performance with an accuracy of 88.33%.