GIS-Based Landslide Susceptibility Mapping in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Case Study of Bujumbura Burundi

Landslides in Central Africa represent a constant threat to the population. The present work took its motivation from the increasing number of recorded incidents in recent times. It is focused on the analysis of mass movements in a regional context. Remote sensing based on the use of satellite images (Pleiades images of 2011) and aerial photographs (1957, 1958 and 1981) allowed us to identify instabilities at different scales. The study of these mass movements and the characterization of the processes governing their release and their evolution in time and space helped us to understand their mechanism. Through the use of geographic information systems, parameters governing the evolution of these instabilities have been identified as well as the relationship between them. Several factors including rainfall, geology and topography and in some extent the human action proved to have an influence on landslides mechanisms and the associated hazard in this region.