Hong Kong to map safety risks of city’s numerous natural slopes using drones
Geotechnical Engineering Office’s Lawrence Shum also says his team will test landslide prediction model this rainy season
Hong Kong authorities will use drones under a pilot project to create a catalogue of hundreds of thousands of natural slopes in the city for safety, following the identification of three large-scale, high-risk sites.
Lawrence Shum Ka-wah, deputy head of the Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) on Hong Kong Island, said on Monday that his team would also test a landslide prediction model this rainy season after the city recorded the largest rockfall incident in nearly a century at Shau Kei Wan in 2023.
The three high-risk sites are areas near Jardine’s Lookout in Wan Chai, Violet Hill in Tai Tam Country Park and Tai Wo Ping near Beacon Hill at the foot of Lion’s Rock.
“It does not mean that landslides will occur at these three areas, but they have been identified for hazard assessment and necessary mitigation works,” he said.
Shum said 181 landslides occurred in Hong Kong last year, down from the annual average of about 300, as the city had experienced 5 per cent less rainfall and fewer rainstorms.
He noted that 20 per cent of the landslides in the past 60 years had occurred on natural hillsides with no prior history of such incidents, thus posing considerable risks and affecting critical infrastructure.