Perception on landslide risk in Malaysia: A comparison between communities and experts' surveys

Surveys and interviews were conducted in the present study among the public and landslide experts from various sectors in Malaysia to study their perception towards landslide risk in the country. Utilizing a questionnaire survey and interviews can prove valuable in determining acceptable risk criteria for landslides by collecting opinions from both the communities and experts. The demographic factors that govern frequency of acceptability, insurance premium purchase etc. were determined through the independent sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Brown–Forsythe test. Most non-experts expressed the lowest acceptance in landslide risk for all scenarios (from low to high risk), whereas the experts were willing to accept a higher landslide risk as they understand that an ideal low landslide risk environment is not feasible at the current Malaysian scenario. Gender, occupation, and level of education were the significant demographic factors influencing the landslide risk acceptability in Malaysia. Key factors to consider when developing risk evaluation criteria and shortcomings of the previous proposed risk criterion for Malaysia were discussed. Modifications were proposed to the existing landslide risk criterion with a lower acceptance towards death upon taking into consideration findings from the present study. While the new landslide risk criteria were specifically formulated for the socio-economic-political environment of Malaysia, the same approach can be customized for different societies and types of hazards. The authors also believed that this endeavour would result in more logical and uniform decision-making processes, ultimately leading to the preservation of lives and resources in regions prone to landslides worldwide