The cost of rapid and haphazard urbanization: lessons learned from the Freetown landslide disaster

Urbanization has been linked to destructive geo-hazards that can cause loss of life, destruction of property, and environmental damage. On August 14, 2017, a devastating geo-hazard chain—a debris slide, debris flow, and sediment-laden flood—in Freetown, Sierra Leone resulted in at least 500 deaths a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Landslides 2019-06, Vol.16 (6), p.1167-1176
Main Authors: Cui, Yifei, Cheng, Deqiang, Choi, Clarence E., Jin, Wen, Lei, Yu, Kargel, Jeffrey S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Civil Engineering
Construction
Construction materials
Debris flow
Destruction
Disasters
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Emergency preparedness
Emergency response
Environmental degradation
Geography
Geological hazards
Housing
Image resolution
Landslides
Natural Hazards
Rain
Rainfall
Recent Landslides
Remote sensing
Residential areas
Risk management
Satellite imagery
Satellites
Spaceborne remote sensing
Urban planning
Urbanization
Vulnerability
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Summary:Urbanization has been linked to destructive geo-hazards that can cause loss of life, destruction of property, and environmental damage. On August 14, 2017, a devastating geo-hazard chain—a debris slide, debris flow, and sediment-laden flood—in Freetown, Sierra Leone resulted in at least 500 deaths and over 600 missing persons and the destruction of hundreds of houses. This study uses 10 years of high-resolution satellite images to conduct a remote sensing analysis of the disaster. Although rainfall was the trigger, rapid and haphazard urbanization acted to increase both hazard and vulnerability. Specifically, poor urban planning with inadequate consideration of risk led to housing construction in dangerous areas; clearance of hillside vegetation increased erosion potential; very low cost buildings using frail construction material and methods lacked resilience; and insufficient risk management led to weak emergency response.
ISSN:1612-510X
1612-5118
DOI:10.1007/s10346-019-01167-x