GIS-based statistical analysis of the spatial distribution of earthquake-induced landslides in the island of Lefkada, Ionian Islands, Greece

This is the first landslide inventory map in the island of Lefkada integrating satellite imagery and reports from field surveys. In particular, satellite imagery acquired before and after the 2003 earthquake were collected and interpreted with the results of the field survey that took place 1 week after this strong (Mw = 6.3) event. The developed inventory map indicates that the density of landslides decreases from west to east. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of landslides was statistically analyzed in relation to the geology and topography for investigating their influence to landsliding. This was accomplished by overlaying these causal factors as thematic layers with landslide distribution data. Afterwards, weight values of each factor were calculated using the landslide index method and a landslide susceptibility map was developed. The susceptibility map indicates that the highest susceptibility class accounts for 38 % of the total landslide activity, while the three highest classes that cover the 10 % of the surface area, accounting for almost the 85 % of the active landslides. Our model was validated by applying the approaches of success and prediction rate to the dataset of landslides that was previously divided into two groups based on temporal criteria, estimation and validation group. The outcome of the validation dataset was that the highest susceptibility class concentrates 18 % of the total landslide activity. However, taking into account the frequency of landslides within the three highest susceptibility classes, more than 85 %, the model is characterized as reliable for a regional assessment of earthquake-induced landslides hazard.