Susceptibility and Vulnerability to Landslides—Case Study: Basin of River Bengalas—City of Nova Friburgo—Brazil

Abstract

Landslides have frequently occurred in last years, due to the disorderly grownth of the cities and the occupation of risk areas by the poor population, causing social, environmental and economic impacts. Urban areas in expansion move to geologically unstable areas and topographically inclined, such as the Basin of River Bengalas, located in the city of Nova Friburgo, mountainous region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This article aims to present the model developed and used to evaluate the susceptibility and vulnerability of the Basin of River Bengalas to landslides, which in January 2011, with the occurrence of heavy rains, caused landslides that impacted in the death of 429 people in city of Nova Friburgo. For the case study, several investigations have been made related to the areas of the basin, such as slope, soil conditions, lithology, land use and cover, vertical curvature, horizontal curvature, and precipitation data. With this study it was possible to understand how the natural and anthropics elements of the basin are related to the local dynamics of the disasters regarding to their interferences in the induction of landslides; evaluate the effectiveness of the guidelines of the Plano Diretor Participativo do Município de Nova Friburgo regarding the landslides; identify the susceptible and vulnerable basin areas to landslides and calculate the rates of susceptibility and vulnerability to landslides from new calculation model proposed.