Hazard assessment and mitigation of non-seismically fatal landslides in China

Fatal landslides cause severe disasters to human lives and socioeconomic costs in China. In this study, the data non-seismically fatal landslides were collected between 2004 and 2016 in China. The hazard and life risk criteria of these fatal landslides were assessed, and the government's investment and ecological influencing factors for landslide prevention and mitigation were analyzed. There were more fatal landslides in Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, and Guangdong provinces. High landslide density value focused on Guizhou, Hunan, and Guangdong province had very high landslide density value, while Gansu held the biggest fatality density value as a result of a few huge fatal landslide events. The Chinese life risk evaluation criterion was higher than those in other countries because there was a greater population density in landslide-prone areas. Nevertheless, the government has invested a great deal of human and financial resources for landslide mitigation over the past 13 years. In total, 244,559 engineering projects were carried out and $15,920.89 million was spent. Thus, a total of 13,603 landslides were successfully predicted and 641,333 persons and $1,372.94 million has been saved. Additionally, the types of land use, afforestation area, and soil erosion management have a positive effect on landslides. However, a trend of reverse increase was presented in fatal landslides. This paper gives a detailed examination of the non-seismically fatal landslide hazard and proves an evaluation of the Chinese government's contribution to landslide mitigation by integrating engineering and ecological measures.