Difficulties and Problematical Aspects of Landslide Risk Assessment:an Overview

There have been improving emphasizes on the landslide risk assessment and management methodology and key techniques development for the domestic and overseas landslide study field in recent years. However, there are still existing lots of difficulties and problematical aspects, especially at medium to large scales quantitative risk assessment. The difficulties and problematical aspects includes landslide inventory database construction, landslide diagnostic factors identification and modeling, uncertainties of landslide temporal and spatial predication, the dynamic changes of landslide triggering factors quantitative modeling, elements at risk investigation and vulnerability quantitative assessment, and etc. Based on the illustration of the framework of landslide risk assessment, this paper reviews the problems and difficulties related to landslide risk analysis on the determination of its spatial and temporal probability, the modeling of landslide run-out and characteristic aspect predication, and consequence analysis includes vulnerability quantitative analysis and element at risk quantitative mapping as well. Furthermore, an overview of recent developments in the different approaches to landslide hazard and risk assessment at medium scales is given, and the main trend of landslide risk assessment methodologies and techniques development as well.