Earthquake-induced landslide hazard monitoring and assessment using SOM and PROMETHEE techniques: A case study at the Chiufenershan area in Central Taiwan

Monitoring and assessment of landslide hazard is an important task for decision making and policy planning in the landslide area. Massive landslides, caused by the catastrophic Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999, occurred in Central Taiwan, especially at Chiufenershan area in Nantou county. This study proposed two useful indicators coupled with the Self-organizing map (SOM) neural network and the Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) technique to quickly extract accurate post-quake landslides from multi-temporal Systeme Probatoire de l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) images. A GIS-based system was developed to simplify and integrate the procedures such as image pre-processing, the SOM training, the PROMETHEE calculation, landslide extraction and accuracy assessment. The evaluated result shows that the landslide area soon after the earthquake is 209.50 ha (Kappa coefficient 96.88%). Over seven years of vegetation recovery, the denudation area has declined to 112.64 ha (Kappa coefficient 90.64%). Most earthquake-induced landslides could be restored by natural vegetation succession. The developed system is a useful decision-making tool for landslide area planning.