Interactive landslide simulator: A tool for landslide risk assessment and communication

Abstract

Understanding landslide risks is important for people living in hilly areas in India. A promising way of communicating landslide risks is via simulation tools, where these tools integrate both human factors (e.g., public investments to mitigate landslides) and environmental factors (e.g., spatial geology and rainfall). In this paper, we develop an interactive simulation model on landslide risks and use it to design a web-based Interactive Landslide Simulator (ILS) microworld. The ILS microworld is based on the assumption that landslides occur due to both environmental factors (spatial geology and rainfall) as well as human factors (lack of monetary investments to mitigate landslides). We run a lab-based experiment involving human participants performing in ILS and we show that the ILS performance helps improve public understanding of landslide risks. Overall, we propose ILS to be an effective tool for doing what-if analyses by policymakers and for educating public about landslide risks.