Context and theory

Context and theory

Landslides cause significant impacts in Equatorial Africa: they cause fatalities and result in structural and functional damage to infrastructure and properties, as well as serious disruptions of the organization of societies.

Information on landslides is far more limited in Equatorial Africa as compared to other continents. There are very few data at the continental and regional scale and it is difficult to have a clear picture of the total area affected.

Landslide risk and society’s resilience

The impact of landslides on individuals and societies results from (1) the occurrence of landslides and subsequent floods (landslide HAZARD), (2) the presence of human activities and infrastructure in landslide-prone areas (EXPOSURE) and (3) the potential losses due to the occurrence of landslides (VULNERABILITY). Landslide risk can therefore be considered to result from the product of

HAZARD = Susceptibility * Frequency

According to this formula, resilience of a society (or people) towards landslides depends on factors affecting one, or several, of these three variables.

Losses from LS are expected to increase in the future in response to the demographic pressure causing more development in landslide-prone areas, deforestation and associated changes in land use and land cover, and the changing climate causing higher or more intense rainfalls.

More on:

• Objectives
• Methodology
• Study areas