The economic cost of landslides in Hali-Ela divisional secretariat of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Landslides which cause degradation of slopes through soil loss is one of the major climate related disasters in Sri Lanka and the highest number of landslides was recorded in Badulla district. This study attempts to identify the economic costs of landslides in Hali-Ela Divisional Secretariat Division (DSD) which recorded the highest number of displaced people in recent landslides in the Badulla District. Primary data collected through a questionnaire was used for this study. Two stage cluster sampling technique was used to select 160 households in six Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions including Bogahamadiththa (20), Spreenweli (40), Panakenniya (20), Kandana (25), Bulatwatta (25) and Ketawala (30) from the 57 GNs in Hali-Ela DSD and the systematic random sampling technique was used to select households. Descriptive statistics, simple regression and chi-square test are used for the analysis. Majority of the sample are in high (46.8%) and medium risk (34%) areas of landslides. Mean distance between house and the nearest recent landslide is recorded as 478m. Landslides have both direct and indirect economic costs. Regarding direct costs, mean damage cost and mean replacement cost for last five years are recorded as Rs.115,790.91 and Rs.78,954.55 respectively showing that only half of the damage is recovering. Regarding indirect economic costs, land value has been deteriorating due to landslides as found by the positive relationship between the land value and the distance to the nearest landslide using hedonic pricing approach. The uncertainty created by the risk of landslide reverses the overall development of the household (62%) including delay of housing construction (62%), agricultural activities (21.6%), road construction (9.3%) and getting electricity (5.2%).