TITLE:
Estimation of Ground Deformation in Landslide Prone Areas Using GPS: A Case Study of Bududa, Uganda
AUTHORS:
Brian Makabayi, Moses Musinguzi, John Richard Otukei
KEYWORDS:
Bududa, GPS, Ground Deformation, Natural Hazards
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.12 No.3,
March
22,
2021
ABSTRACT: Landslides are a frequent
phenomenon on mountain Elgon, particularly in Bududa district on the SW side of
this extinct shield volcano. Landslides have led to the destruction of property
and loss of life we, therefore, need to monitor them. Monitoring how landslides
build-up makes it possible to timely evacuate people and build barriers to
protect property against damage by landslides. Residents in Bududa have
reported cracks developing in the ground and houses. These cracks continue to
grow, suggesting a future catastrophic event. Such an event may resemble the
2010 landslide in Bududa, which killed approximately 450 people and destroyed
much property. In order to mitigate the consequences of a new landslide as much
as possible, we monitored ground motion in Bududa in eleven stations from June
2018 to June 2019. Six-hour session GPS observations were made, and deformation
was determined over the observation period, June to September 2018, September
to November 2018, November 2018 to February 2019 and February to June 2019. A
congruency test was performed to determine how significant the deformation was.
It appeared that the ground deformation differed largely at various monitored
stations, ranging from 0.004 to 0.076 m, 0.001 to 0.067 m and 0 to 0.078 m in the
East, North and vertical directions respectively. The values indicate that most
slopes in the district are unstable, particularly in the wet seasons, which
implies that future landslides pose a high risk for society.