The Role of Landslide Risk Assessment in Slope Safety Management in Hong Kong

Hong Kong faces a unique long-term slope safety problem due to its dense urban development in a hilly terrain combined with high seasonal rainfall. New challenge frequently arises and at present, it is on the preparation for extreme rainfall events that are projected as becoming more frequent in terms of occurrence due to climate change effects. Hong Kong's slope safety management has evolved in response to experience and through continuous improvement initiatives and technology advances. This has resulted in the progressive development of an integrated slope safety system for reducing landslide risk to meet the needs of the public and facilitate safe and sustainable developments. This paper presents a range of different landslide risk assessment tools that have been developed over the years to tackle the slope safety problem as part of a holistic approach. The paper also covers the likely risk increase and change in risk profile due to more frequent and severe extreme rainfall and its potential implications. The uncertainties involved in the different risk assessment tools are also discussed.