Leyte disaster, background and some clues to upgrade disaster mitigation plans

Abstract

The landslide disaster that occurred in Leyte Island, the Philippines, last February, killed about 1,100 or nearly all residents in Guinsaugon village. About 500 mm of extensive rains within first two weeks of February became the prime reason for the landslide. Experts say Leyte has a high vulnerability for landslides due to heavy rainfall, geological instability, and forest degradation in mountain slopes. In this research, some background information such as,cloud images, earthquake data, after disaster ASTER satellite image, and land cover information, are analyzed to explain possible gains for the disaster. Furthermore, research emphasizes the importance of finer rainfall observation network in landslide prone areas to upgrade the accuracy of numerical model weather forecasts