A Study on Theory and Method in Debris Flow Risk Assessment

The frequent occurrences of debris flow disasters have caused great damage in some regions of Chinaduring recent years. Yet it is difficult to forecast such disasters accurately due to its big quantity in large area andsudden outbreak. Therefore it is especially urgent to pre-evaluate debris flow disaster risk. This paper reviewedthe research on debris risk assessment in the past decades, including its conceptual constituents, hazard assess-ment and vulnerability evaluation. It was found that a tangible disaster risk assessment formula had been formedand debris flow hazard assessment methods had been successfully established. However, there were still someproblems which need to be further explored, such as the mechanism analysis of the damage risk to hazard-bear-ing items, the effective transition from the point evaluation to the regional one, the neglected vulnerability re-search. Hence, it might be necessary to strengthen research in these aspects in the future, which might conse-quently enhance the reliability of the risk assessment results and improve its practicality.