Landslide hazard zonation assessment in the Southwestern Highlands of Ethiopia, using integrated approaches of GIS and remote sensing techniques

Abstract Landslide is a common environmental problem in southwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Especially highland area of Konta special woreda is mostly vulnerable for landslide hazards. The study was conducted in northern Konta special woreda which includes Ameya, Gowa, Genji and Chida areas. The main objective of this study was to assess landslide hazard zonation through the integration of GIS and remote sensing techniques. In order to identify sensitivity areas for the occurrence of landslide hazard most important influential factors such as elevation, slope, aspect, drainage density, land-use/land-cover and Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were considered. Further, these factors were weighted using analytical hierarch process method based on their influence for landslide hazard. As a result of this study, very low hazard zonation sites are cover about 10.76 km 2 or 1.78% of the total area whereas low and moderate landslide hazard zonation cover about 259.57 km 2 (38.04%) and 241.86 km 2 (40.02%) respectively. In addition, high and very high landslide hazard zonation are cover about 98.09 km 2 (16.23%) and 24.02 km 2 ( 3.98%) of the total area respectively. Hence, most part of the study area falls under risky landslide hazard zonation. Especially, Ameye and Genji towns is found under higher landslide hazard zonation.