Survey of spatial and temporal landslide prediction methods and techniques

Landslides are one of the most common natural hazards causing significant damage and casualties every year. In Korea, the increasing trend in landslide occurrence in recent decades, caused by climate change, has set off an alarm for researchers to find more reliable methods for landslide prediction. Therefore, an accurate landslide-susceptibility assessment is fundamental for preventing landslides and minimizing damages. However, analyzing the stability of a natural slope is not an easy task because it depends on numerous factors such as those related to vegetation, soil properties, soil moisture distribution, the amount and duration of rainfall, earthquakes, etc. A variety of different methods and techniques for evaluating landslide susceptibility have been proposed, but up to now no specific method or technique has been accepted as the standard method because it is very difficult to assess different methods with entirely different intrinsic and extrinsic data. Landslide prediction methods can fall into three categories: empirical, statistical, and physical approaches. This paper reviews previous research and surveys three groups of landslide prediction methods.