Geo-Hazard Susceptibility Assessment and Its Impacts on Livelihoods in Kerio Valley, Kenya

Abstract

Geohazards are a recurrent issue in the Kerio River catchment of Kenya, which usually results in life and property loss. This research focuses on mapping geo-hazard risk zones of the region. The risk zones were developed from a combination of land use land cover maps, agroecological zones maps and soil erosion maps using the Analytical Hierarchy Process method of multi-criteria analysis. The final results depict the geohazard risk maps which show the susceptibility of different areas in the catchment (classified as risk zones) to hazards. The zones range from no risk zones to very high-risk zones. The results showed that the lowlands are most susceptible to hazards as they were classified as high-risk zones. These risk zone areas have impacts on the socio-economic development hence negatively impacting livelihoods in the area.