Evaluation of RADARSAT image for landslide susceptibility mapping: application in Bolivia

The problems relating to landslides and intensive gullying are of primary concern in Bolivia, especially around the city of Cochabamba where thirty nine watersheds, pointing toward the city, are generating an impressive quantity of sediments, destroying fertile lands, and putting in jeopardy many farmers who make there living in these areas. One way of changing this situation, is to evaluate the susceptibility of landslides and applying measures for restricting or correcting the highly susceptible zones. Most of the existing methodologies used to perform this evaluation are done from aerial photography to collect the necessary data, before applying proper models. This study shows that the use of RADARSAT image (Fine mode), has the potential to replace or complement aerial photography for the identification of many parameters essential in the mapping of different susceptibility classes.