Landslides Susceptibility of Chittagong City, Bangladesh and Development of Landslides Early Warning System

Abstract

Chittagong, the second largest city of Bangladesh, is mostly developed in the hilly areas. Hills are mostly covered with loose and weathered tertiary sedimentary rocks susceptible to landslides. Generally, during heavy rainfall within a short time, water infiltrates into the loose rocks and soils, which increase the pore water pressure, and finally exceeds the shear strength of the materials to initiate landslides. Landslides history, slope characteristics, geology and geotechnical properties have been considered to divide Chittagong City and surrounding areas into four landslide hazard zones. Zone I in the east of Chittagong City persists as the most susceptible area for landslides, and the city becomes gradually less susceptible further westward up to zone IV. Prevention of landslides in most cases requires costly engineering solutions. Therefore, mitigation through timely evacuation of people from hazardous areas might be a good solution to combat landslides. Two automated rain gauges are installed at high risk landslide zones with built-in rainfall threshold values. Threshold values for early warning of landslides are set after statistical analysis of past landslides in relation to total amount of rainfall and local geology. The threshold values of rainfall are set to 100 mm in 3 h, 200 mm in 24 h and 350 mm in 72 h

Landslides Susceptibility of Chittagong City, Bangladesh and Development of Landslides Early Warning System