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Sustainability in Natural Hazards Mitigation and Landslide Research

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Hazards and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2025) | Viewed by 7702

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Dr. Ching-Ying Tsou

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Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8561, Japan
Interests: applied geomorphology; erosion control engineering; natural hazards; landslides; disaster education; environmental education
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural hazards, including landslides, pose significant risks to human lives, infrastructure, and the environment. To address these challenges effectively, there is a growing need to integrate sustainability principles into natural hazard mitigation and landslide research. This Special Issue aims to explore innovative approaches, methodologies, and case studies that promote sustainable practices in managing and mitigating the impacts of natural hazards, specifically focusing on landslides.

This Special Issue seeks contributions that cover a wide range of topics related to sustainability in natural hazard mitigation and landslide research. Original research articles and reviews are welcome, which may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:

Sustainable approaches to landslide risk assessment and mitigation strategies.
Socio-economic and environmental impacts of landslides and their mitigation measures.
Nature-based solutions for sustainable landslide management and erosion control measures.
Community engagement and participation in sustainable landslide management strategies.
Innovative technologies for sustainable slope stabilization and erosion control measures.
Geomorphological and geoecological evaluation of landslides for sustainable environmental management.

By emphasizing sustainability in natural hazard mitigation and landslide research, this Special Issue seeks to contribute to the collective efforts in building a sustainable environment, resilient communities, and protecting lives and infrastructure. We invite researchers and practitioners to submit their work, showcasing the integration of sustainability principles in addressing the challenges posed by natural hazards, particularly landslides.

I/We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Ching-Ying Tsou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

landslides
sustainability
mitigation strategies
environmental impacts
nature-based solutions
community engagement
geoecological evaluation

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 16812 KB

Open AccessArticle

Rainfall-Induced Geological Hazard Susceptibility Assessment in the Henan Section of the Yellow River Basin: Multi-Model Approaches Supporting Disaster Mitigation and Sustainable Development

by Yinyuan Zhang, Hui Ci, Hui Yang, Ran Wang and Zhaojin Yan

Sustainability 2025, 17(10), 4348; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17104348 - 11 May 2025

Viewed by 601

Abstract

The Henan section of the Yellow River Basin (3.62 × 10⁴ km², 21.7% of Henan Province), a vital agro-industrial and politico-economic hub, faces frequent rainfall-induced geohazards. The 2021 “7·20” Zhengzhou disaster, causing 398 fatalities and CNY 120.06 billion loss, highlights its vulnerability to extreme weather. While machine learning (ML) aids geohazard assessment, rainfall-induced geological hazard susceptibility assessment (RGHSA) remains understudied, with single ML models lacking interpretability and precision for complex disaster data. This study presents a hybrid framework (IVM-ML) that integrates the Information Value Model (IVM) and ML. The framework uses historical disaster data and 11 factors (e.g., rainfall erosivity, relief amplitude) to calculate information values and construct a machine learning prediction model with these quantitative results. By combining IVM’s spatial analysis with ML’s predictive power, it addresses the limitations of conventional single models. ROC curve validation shows the Random Forest (RF) model in IVM-ML achieves the highest accuracy (AUC = 0.9599), outperforming standalone IVM (AUC = 0.7624). All models exhibit AUC values exceeding 0.75, demonstrating strong capability in capturing rainfall–hazard relationships and reliable predictive performance. Findings support RGHSA practices in the mid-Yellow River urban cluster, offering insights for sustainable risk management, land-use planning, and climate resilience. Bridging geoscience and data-driven methods, this study advances global sustainability goals for disaster reduction and environmental security in vulnerable riverine regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Natural Hazards Mitigation and Landslide Research)

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21 pages, 24384 KB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Failure Mechanism of Medium-Steep Bedding Rock Slopes under Seismic Action

by Xiuhong Zheng, Qihua Zhao, Sheqin Peng, Longke Wu, Yanghao Dou and Kuangyu Chen

Sustainability 2024, 16(17), 7729; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177729 - 5 Sep 2024

Viewed by 1090

Abstract

Medium-steep bedding rock slopes (MBRSs) are generally considered relatively stable, because the dip angle of the rock layers (45–55°) is larger than the slope angle (40–45°). However, the stability of MBRSs was significantly impacted during the 1933 Diexi earthquake, leading to slope instability. Field investigations revealed that no continuous sliding surface was recognized in the failure slopes. Instead, the source areas of landslides present a “reverse steps” feature, where the step surfaces are perpendicular to the bedding surface, and their normal directions point towards the crest of the slopes. These orientations of “reverse steps” differ significantly from those of steps formed under static conditions, which makes it difficult to explain the phenomenon using traditional failure mechanism of the slope. Therefore, a large-scale shaking table test was conducted to replicate the deformation and failure processes of MBRSs under seismic action. The test revealed the elevation amplification effect, where the amplification factors of the acceleration increased with increasing elevation. As the amplitude of the input seismic wave increased, the acceleration amplification factor initially rose and subsequently decreased with the increase in the shear strain of the rock mass. The dynamic response of the slope under Z-direction seismic waves is stronger than that under X-direction seismic waves. The deformation and failure were mainly concentrated in the upper part of the slope, which was in good agreement with the field observations. Based on these findings, the deformation and failure mechanism of MBRSs was analyzed by considering both the spatial relationship between the seismogenic fault and the slope, and the propagation characteristics of seismic waves along the slope. The seismic failure mode of MBRSs in the study area was characterized as flexural–tensile failure. This work can provide a reference for post-earthquake disaster investigation, as well as disaster prevention and mitigation, in seismically active regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Natural Hazards Mitigation and Landslide Research)

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21 pages, 12788 KB

Open AccessArticle

Unveiling Deep-Seated Gravitational Slope Deformations via Aerial Photo Interpretation and Statistical Analysis in an Accretionary Complex in Japan

by Teruyuki Kikuchi, Satoshi Nishiyama and Teruyoshi Hatano

Sustainability 2024, 16(13), 5328; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135328 - 22 Jun 2024

Viewed by 1349

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the locations of deep-seated gravitational slope deformations (DGSDs) and define the numerical characteristics of these deformations to contribute to the sustainable management of social infrastructure in the event of an increased disaster. The topographic features of the DGSDs were quantitatively characterized based on their surface morphologies. Topographic features indicative of gravitational deformation in pre-slide topographic maps, such as terminal cliff failures, irregular undulations, and gullies, suggest that progressive deformation occurred over a prolonged period. To track the gravitational deformation over time, we interpreted aerial photographs of DGSDs from 1948 and 2012 associated with deep-seated landslides on the Kii Peninsula induced by Typhoon Talas on 2–5 August 2011. Corresponding numerical analysis of the gravitational deformations using 1 m digital elevation models reveals that landslide areas exhibit eight characteristic influencing factors, demonstrating that characteristic morphologies exist in areas that eventually experience landslides. One such morphological feature is the existence of a gently sloping area in the upper section of the deep-seated landslide mass, which comprises a catchment basin without a corresponding valley or gully. These findings suggest that rainwater penetrates the ground, and degrades and deforms the rock within the landslide mass, causing the slope to fail after torrential rainfall. This study holds great significance for advancing sustainable infrastructure development and management and mitigating environmental changes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Natural Hazards Mitigation and Landslide Research)

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25 pages, 10614 KB

Open AccessArticle

Updated Predictive Models for Permanent Seismic Displacement of Slopes for Greece and Their Effect on Probabilistic Landslide Hazard Assessment

by Dimitris Sotiriadis, Nikolaos Klimis and Ioannis M. Dokas

Sustainability 2024, 16(6), 2240; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16062240 - 7 Mar 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1517

Abstract

Earthquake-triggered landslides have been widely recognized as a catastrophic hazard in mountainous regions. They may lead to direct consequences, such as property losses and casualties, as well as indirect consequences, such as disruption of the operation of lifeline infrastructures and delays in emergency response actions after earthquakes. Regional landslide hazard assessment is a useful tool to identify areas that are vulnerable to earthquake-induced slope instabilities and design prioritization schemes towards more detailed site-specific slope stability analyses. A widely used method to assess the seismic performance of slopes is by calculating the permanent downslope sliding displacement that is expected during ground shaking. Nathan M. Newmark was the first to propose a method to estimate the permanent displacement of a rigid body sliding on an inclined plane in 1965. The expected permanent displacement for a slope using the sliding block method is implemented by either selecting a suite of representative earthquake ground motions and computing the mean and standard deviation of the displacement or by using analytical equations that correlate the permanent displacement with ground motion intensity measures, the slope’s yield acceleration and seismological characteristics. Increased interest has been observed in the development of such empirical models using strong motion databases over the last decades. It has been almost a decade since the development of the latest empirical model for the prediction of permanent ground displacement for Greece. Since then, a significant amount of strong motion data have been collected. In the present study, several nonlinear regression-based empirical models are developed for the prediction of the permanent seismic displacements of slopes, including various ground motion intensity measures. Moreover, single-hidden layer Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models are developed to demonstrate their capability of simplifying the construction of empirical models. Finally, implementation of the produced modes based on Probabilistic Landslide Hazard Assessment is undertaken, and their effect on the resulting hazard curves is demonstrated and discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Natural Hazards Mitigation and Landslide Research)

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15 pages, 6920 KB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Relationship between Plant Species Composition and Topography in the Tomeyama Landslide: Implications for Environmental Education and Sustainable Management in the Happo-Shirakami Geopark, Japan

by Ching-Ying Tsou, Hiroki Yamagishi, Reona Kawakami, Mei-Fang Tsai and Takuma Miwa

Sustainability 2023, 15(24), 16572; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152416572 - 5 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1406

Abstract

The Tomeyama landslide in the Happo-Shirakami Geopark, Japan, has interesting and important geomorphological and geoecological characteristics. Understanding these characteristics is crucial for environmental education and sustainable management in the geopark. In this study, we quantified the characteristics of the landslide, including its precise topography and vegetation. We used high-resolution 2.5 m-mesh ALOS World 3D topographic data to define the topography of the landslide. We also surveyed plant species composition and cover in four plots (three on the upper slope and one on the convex lower foot slope), each measuring 20 m × 20 m. Our findings reveal that the landslide is sited on a northwest-facing slope, 250 m below the ridge top, and has a horseshoe-shaped main scarp with a height of 40 m. Two smaller secondary scarps and their corresponding displaced landslide blocks suggest reactivation since the main landslide event. In the upper slope plots, 40–55 plant species were identified, including 14–16 species associated with the Japanese beech forest and 2–5 species related to the Pterocarya rhoifolia forest. In the lower slope plot, 70 plant species were identified, including 14 species from the Japanese beech forest and 11 from the Pterocarya rhoifolia forest. The upper slope plant community belongs to the Japanese beech forest; however, categorizing the lower slope community is challenging, although more Pterocarya rhoifolia forest species are present compared with the upper slope. These results suggest that certain plant species have adapted to the diverse topography created by the landslide. These findings improve the understanding of landslide topography and plant community composition with respect to environmental factors and thereby support effective environmental education and sustainable management in the Happo-Shirakami Geopark. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Natural Hazards Mitigation and Landslide Research)

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