Web based landslide management system for Nepal

Landslide inventory in Nepal is currently not done continuously and coherently, and efforts are made after major triggering events only, such as the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. There is a lack of sharing of knowledge and cooperation among stakeholders to cope with significant disaster events. This research will focus on filling the gaps by designing an approach for sustainable landslide inventory mapping in Nepal. The overall framework of research is to make a conceptual design of a Nepalese landslide information system and to show how different stakeholders can be involved. The use of a Nepalese landslide information system, to report and provide landslide data would benefit the stakeholders involved in data collection and landslide management. Several stakeholders could be considered such as road department, land management authority, forestry department, disaster management department and army. These stakeholders have different data requirements and are determined in this research. The landslide database system should be designed in such a way that it can incorporate information about different landslide characteristics and types. Availability and extraction of landslide data from the database are the critical aspects. The landslide characteristics to be comprised in the database are defined, such as the completeness, the form of representation, the date of occurrence, the subdivision in scarp and accumulation areas, and the type of landslides. For the reporting of landslides directly in the system, a web portal is proposed that will be connected to the internet and the central database. Stakeholders who can contribute to the reporting of landslides are identified by field interviews and questionnaires. For example, primary users like school teachers can report a landslide event by pointing it out in the system as schools at the district level have the required infrastructure and internet facilities. Also, different methods for generating the inventory data are analysed in this research, and the applicability and efficiency of various collection methods are tested, including, image interpretation, the use of field-based Tablet PC, interviews and field survey. Interviews were carried out focusing on farmers and village residents and local police officers. Landslide inventories for Gorkha event were collected to see the spatial coverage of landslides in the country. Effects of different quality and completeness levels of landslide inventories, using tools such as Frequency Area Distribution and spatial overlap were carried out. Based on field investigations and literature reviews the optimal format of the database is determined for the Nepalese landslide information system.