A semi-quantitative landslide risk assessment of central Kahramanmara City in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey

Landslides are one of the most destructive natural hazards in Turkey. In addition to loss of lives, there were many negative impacts of landslides on properties and the environment. To minimize the losses and damages related to landslides, a series of labour-intensive studies starting from landslide inventory to landslide risk mapping is required. Thus, this study aims to assess the landslide risk by a semi-quantitative approach in a landslide-prone area located in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. This region has been suffering from landslides with its high population and industrial characteristics. A total of 215 deep-seated rotational earth slides were mapped during field studies. Then, landslide-susceptibility mapping was performed by frequency ratio and logistic regression methods. For the hazard stage, the susceptibility map and the triggering indicator maps were used to produce a Landslide Hazard Index (LHI) map. As for the vulnerability analysis, a relative evaluation was performed by considering land use, infrastructure and population density data. All maps were combined at the final stage to produce a Landslide Risk Index (LRI) map of the study area. It was revealed that areal coverages of the produced LRI map were 21.4% very low (VL), 10.8% as low (L), 37.4% as medium (M), 24.8% as high (H) and 5.6% as very high (VH) LRI, respectively. The so-produced LRI map would be beneficial for further and detailed risk analyses to be performed in the future since it highlights the landslide risk hotspots in a regional scale.