Maximillian Van Wyk de Vries
Brief communication: Weak correlation between building damage and loss of life from landslides
Van Wyk de Vries, Maximillian; Dunant, Alexandre; Johnson, Amy L.; Harvey, Erin L.; Li, Sihan; Arrell, Katherine; Baniya, Jeevan; Basnet, Dipak; Basyal, Gopi K.; Bhotia, Nyima Dorjee; Dadson, Simon J.; Densmore, Alexander L.; Dong, Tek Bahadur; Kincey, Mark E.; Oven, Katie; Puri, Anuradha; Rosser, Nick J.
Authors
Dr Alexandre Dunant alexandre.dunant@durham.ac.uk
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Amy L. Johnson
Dr Erin Harvey erin.l.harvey@durham.ac.uk
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Sihan Li
Katherine Arrell
Jeevan Baniya jeevan.baniya@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor
Dr Dipak Basnet dipak.basnet@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor
Gopi K. Basyal
Nyima Dorjee Bhotia
Simon J. Dadson
Professor Alexander Densmore a.l.densmore@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Dr Tek Bahadur Dong tek.b.dong@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor
Mark E. Kincey
Katie Oven
Dr Anuradha Puri anuradha.puri@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor
Professor Nick Rosser n.j.rosser@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Abstract
Mapping exposure to landslides is necessary to mitigate risk and increase resilience. Exposure maps can be constructed from building databases, akin to seismic risk assessments, but there has been little investigation of the predictive relationship between building damage from landslides and risk to human life. Our study investigates this relationship globally and in Nepal (47,213 and 5,664 landslides, respectively). While a correlation exists for nationwide totals (R2=0.75), it is negligible for individual events (R2=0.025). It is important to not construct landslide exposure maps from building datasets alone, else building damage may be inadvertently prioritised over human lives in disaster planning.
Citation
Van Wyk de Vries, M., Dunant, A., Johnson, A. L., Harvey, E. L., Li, S., Arrell, K., Baniya, J., Basnet, D., Basyal, G. K., Bhotia, N. D., Dadson, S. J., Densmore, A. L., Dong, T. B., Kincey, M. E., Oven, K., Puri, A., & Rosser, N. J. (in press). Brief communication: Weak correlation between building damage and loss of life from landslides. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 25(6), 1937-1942. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1937-2025
| Journal Article Type | Article |
|---|---|
| Acceptance Date | Mar 12, 2025 |
| Online Publication Date | Jun 11, 2025 |
| Deposit Date | Jun 13, 2025 |
| Publicly Available Date | Jun 17, 2025 |
| Journal | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| Print ISSN | 1561-8633 |
| Electronic ISSN | 1684-9981 |
| Publisher | European Geosciences Union |
| Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1937-1942 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1937-2025 |
| Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4097167 |
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