LANDSLIDE INVENTORY FROM AN ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE

To comply with ISO31000 risk management guidelines, in 2011 the Canadian geoscience community developed landslide terminology, which defined "inventory" as "the location, classification, volume, activity, date of occurrence and other characteristics of landslides within an area." This definition allows, but does not require, important elements needed for assessing landslide risk, which is the "combination of the probability of that a landslide will occur and the consequences of a landslide occurring." Geoscientists tend to think of risk assessment only from the hazardous process perspective, with emphasis on locations of past deposits as indicators of future occurrences.

From a business enterprise perspective, threats to the entire enterprise must be considered and managed throughout time. “Enterprise risk management” (ERM) is a framework for assessing, monitoring, and controlling risks from all sources, long- and short-term, which may affect the viability of the business enterprise. In a less comprehensive way, local government managers need to make decisions based on the same types of data that businesses rely on for ERM. Business risk categories include financial, operational, strategic, and unforeseen hazards. Unforeseen hazard risks include legal liability, regulatory changes, property damage from a variety of causes (fire, water, accident), and the impact of natural causes. Landslides can directly damage business property, as well as disrupt the supply of goods and services upon which the business depends, or even impact a critical customer or group of customers. Landslide inventories that include the elements needed for comprehensive risk assessment serve the needs of actuaries assisting businesses with ERM. Inventories showing only where past landslides have occurred fall short of satisfying this need. Insurance actuaries rely on geoscience expertise to assess the future probabilities and consequences of landslides in susceptible areas.