Landslide Susceptibility and Risk Assessment in Hilly Regions of Bangladesh: A Geostatistical and Geospatial Modeling Approach for Sustainability

Landslides significantly threaten human life, infrastructure, and environmental balance. In the hilly regions of Bangladesh, including Sylhet and Rangamati, landslides are frequent, causing 727 deaths and 1017 injuries between 2000 and 2018. The northeastern section of Bangladesh is projected to receive over 500–600 mm of precipitation in 2023, breaking records over the past 122 years, according to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). With an elevation range of 0 to 195 m above sea level and 18% of its total land area covered by water bodies, Rangamati is particularly vulnerable to landslides. Despite the devastating impact of landslides, susceptibility assessment and risk management strategies are lacking. This research aims to address this gap by developing a comprehensive framework for sustainable landslide risk mitigation using geostatistical and geospatial modeling techniques. Factors such as land use and land cover (LULC), elevation, slope, topographic wetness index (TWI), precipitation, lithology, soil type, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and distance from roads are used to create a frequency ratio (FR) model and identify landslide susceptibility and risk zones. The resulting high-resolution landslide susceptibility map (LSM) and risk assessment models provide valuable insights for policymakers, land-use planners, and stakeholders involved in disaster risk reduction and sustainable development. By applying geostatistical and geospatial modeling techniques to assess landslide susceptibility, manage risk, and promote sustainability, this research enhances resilience to landslides and highlights the importance of proactive planning and informed decision-making in mitigating the impact of landslides for promoting sustainable development in hilly regions.