Geospatial Assessment of Landslide Susceptibility in Mogok Township, Myanmar Using Remote Sensing, GIS and Analytical Hierarchy Process

Landslides are a persistent natural hazard in Mogok Township, located in Myanmar’s mountainous Pyin Oo Lwin District, where steep slopes, intense seasonal rainfall, fragile geological conditions and expanding human activities frequently combine to trigger slope failures. These events pose growing risks to settlements, transport networks and environmental stability. This study was carried out to identify landslide-prone zones in the region and to develop a reliable susceptibility map that can support safer land-use decisions and disaster risk reduction. A geospatial approach integrating Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques was used to examine eight major factors influencing landslides: slope, rainfall, lithology, lineament density, drainage density, land-use/land-cover, slope aspect and road proximity. Satellite imagery, DEM data, geological datasets and rainfall records were processed to prepare thematic layers. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was then applied to evaluate the relative importance of each factor, followed by weighted overlay analysis to generate a landslide susceptibility zonation map. The model’s predictive performance was tested using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC)-Area Under Curve (AUC) validation. The findings revealed that slope and rainfall are the strongest contributors to landslide occurrence, with geological conditions and structural weaknesses also playing substantial roles. Areas in the northwestern and southwestern parts of Mogok Township were identified as the most vulnerable, primarily due to steep terrain, intense rainfall and fractured rock formations. The model achieved an AUC value of 0.804, indicating dependable predictive capability. This study shows that combining GIS with AHP offers a practical and effective method for assessing landslide susceptibility in mountainous regions with limited data availability. The resulting hazard map provides a useful scientific basis for regional planning, infrastructure management and long-term landslide risk mitigation in Mogok Township.