Analysis on the Effect of Land Use on Susceptibility to Landslide in Boac,

Marinduque Using GIS

INTRODUCTION
Boac is known as the capital of province Marinduque, Philippines. It has a rugged
terrain and mountainous area located on its Southeast part. Boac is also recognized in
Marinduque as the dwelling municipality for commercial businesses. However, its lands
are not only used for commercial uses but also for institutional, industrial, residential,
forest, reclamation and agricultural use such as banana land, rice land, corn land and
others.
Due to the different uses of land in Boac, it is one of the important things they
should look after too. It is due to the reason that some land uses could cause different
phenomena depending on how it is used and what activities are being implemented. If
the land is abused, it could lead to destruction or devastative incidents such as
landslide, flooding and others. Here in the Philippines, as an archipelago, several
sloping terrains are prominent and landslides usually happen in such areas, mostly
urbanized ones (Oh and Lee, 2010). Landslide is defined as a mass wasting events of
rocks or debris associated with other major natural disasters such as earthquakes,
floods and volcanic eruptions (Landslides, 2013). It is a disastrous incident that can
cause human injury, loss of human life and devastation of properties.
Geographic Information System (GIS) is the main tool for the landslide
susceptibility mapping that comes with reasonable production of models for analysis of
landslide events. Existing slopes that have been the same for years are still subject to

mass movement when any natural or man-induced conditions change the stability of its
slope. With this, one of the studys aims is to identify critical factors that can affect the
vulnerability of the area to natural and man-made hazards such as soil erosion and
landslide.
With the increasing level of understanding and studies on landslides, and as
humans are affected by this disaster, determining and producing a model and map
would be necessary to show the vulnerability levels of the area using GIS-based
methods. The outputs will be based on the land use and land cover of the area.
Thus, this study aims to; generate a model that would determine the effect and
relationship of land use and susceptibility of Boac to landslide, and to determine which
land use would be the most susceptible to landslide, through the use of Geographic
Information System (GIS) we could easily overlay, understand and analyze the data.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
According to Cunanan (2012), Marinduque obtained the 3 rd position among all
provinces, in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources list with most
denuded forest cover. Aside from that, Marinduque also got the 7 th rank for most
hazard prone province in terms of flooding, storm surge and landslides. On the other
hand, Querubin (2006) stated that eight villages in the town of Boac are landslide
prone. Though lots of factors could be point out as the reason for this chaos. However,
human activities could not be denied to have the biggest contribution on the problem
and one form of this is through mans land use.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2010), Land

use represents the economic and cultural activities that are practiced at a place, such
as agricultural, residential, industrial, mining, and recreational uses. Land use changes
occur constantly and at many scales, and can have specific and cumulative effects on
air and water quality, watershed function, generation of waste, extent and quality of
wildlife habitat, climate, and human health. In short, land uses really affect the
environment and could cause devastative and destructive effects.But in some cases,
changes in land use may have positive effects, such as increasing habitat as a result of
deliberate habitat restoration measures; and reclamation of lands for urban/suburban
development as a result of cleanup of previously contaminated land.
One good example of this is landslide. However, according to European
Commission, most statistics on natural disasters underestimate the impacts from
landslides as they often do not separate them from other triggering or concurrent natural
hazards such as storms, floods or earthquakes. And according to Dai, et.al (2001),
landslide is one of the major natural hazards happening every year that cause fatalities
and damages on properties and economic aspect in mountainous part or area of the
world. On the other hand, European Commission does not only point mountainous area
as the one which triggers landslide but they also pointed other factors such as intense
rainfall, earthquakes and also human activities.

However, Gaillard, Liamson and

Villanueva (2007) claimed that the landslide particularly in Eastern Luzon, Philippines is
not only due to natural phenomena but rather interweave with deeper demographic,
socico economic and political factors which includes unmanaged population growth,

difficult access to land resources, corruption within the government and the power of the
elite.
Most of the objective of the study is to identify areas that are highly susceptible to
landslide and to be able to produce hazard map. Luzona and Montalbo et.al (2013),
stated in their study that concerned agencies can use the maps produced from the
study; for long term planning facilitation of hazardous areas and for disaster
preparedness.
METHODOLOGY
In this study, the researchers gathered all the data needed for the study such as
the Boacs aerial photograph, elevation, slope, and land use. Landslides may occur as a
consequence of a number of determining and triggering factors. In order to assess
susceptibility from landslide, it is therefore necessary to identify and analyze the factors
leading to landslide. The need of primary data from the city hall will be needed to
identify the possible reasons for frequent occurrences of landslide in the area. The data
gathered are the input parameters needed to construct the map and model needed to
assess the susceptibility of the area to land slide. Maps such as land cover and land
use would be the baseline for this study. Aerial photos and satellite images to assess
the damage done on the area will be used for modelling, as well. Together with the
various thematic maps, the development and design of the model will be done. In turn,
this would help in addressing the problem of the area proper disaster risk management.
To use the GIS, All data should be prepared in digital form.

The study would require the use of ArcGIS program, with its mapping and
modelling features. Data obtained was overlayed using the tool Arcmap 10.1 and maps
produced was analyzed and interpreted. With the comprehensive features of the ArcGIS
program, detailed information about landslide events in critical circumstances will be
provided. Dissemination of this information will be done to give awareness to the people
of the city.
REFERENCES
Cunanan, M. (2012). Use of CBMS for Vulnerability Risk Mapping. CBMS Network
Updates, Vol. IX,(2), 2.
European Commission - Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and
Sustainability.(2015).

Landslides.

Retrieved

from

http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/landslides/
Gaillard, J.C, Liamzon, C.C, & Villanueva, J.D. (2007) Natural disaster? A retrospect
into the causes of the late-2004 typhoon disaster in Eastern Luzon, Philippines.
Environmental Hazards, 7, 257-270.
Luzona, P.K.D, Montalbo, K.R.P, & Galanga, J.AM.B, et.al. (2013) Hazard Mapping of
Structurally Controlled Landslide in Southern Leyte, Philippines Using High
Resolution Digital Elevation Model. Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazard.
http://blog.noah.dost.gov.ph/

Oh, H.J. and Lee, S. (2010). Landslide susceptibility mapping on Panaon Island,
Philippines using a geographic information system. Retrieved from Environ Earth
Sci (2011) 62:935951 DOI 10.1007/s12665-010-0579-2
Querubin, G.G.R. (2006). Fears raised over mining dam in danger of collapse.
Inquirer.Retrieved

from

http://www.inquirer.net/specialreports/theenvironmentreport/view.php?
db=1&article=20060713-9665
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2010). Land Use. Retrieved from
http://cfpub.epa.gov/eroe/index.cfm?
fuseaction=list.listBySubTopic&lv=list.listBySubTopic&ch=48&s=225.