Rainfall-Induced Shallow Landslide Susceptibility for Risk Management of the Underground Services in a Mediterranean Metropolitan City

Shallow-landslide susceptibility assessment is an essential research activity for land management and risk assessment. In this research, a GIS-based approach has been developed to assess the rain-induced landslide susceptibility in the Municipality of Genoa, a Mediterranean anthropized area historically characterized by intense rainfall events triggering shallow landslides with high destructive power. Based on a detailed inventory of landslide phenomena, a semi-quantitative method has been applied to assess the role of seven natural and anthropogenic landslide causal factors. The areas of differing rain-induced shallow landslide susceptibility have been discriminated into five classes, indicative of areas on slopes where newly triggered landslides may occur. The landslide susceptibility map was subsequently cross-referenced with the map of gas and water utilities, thus obtaining an early-stage risk assessment, useful for adequate planning and integrated asset management in a context of climate change.