A Remote Sensing and GIS Approach to Assessing Multiple Environmental Factors Leading to Delineation of Flood Hazard Risk Zone in the Busu River Catchment, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Flooding is one of the major disasters that the Province of Morobe in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is often subjected to. The communities that dwell in the vicinity of major rivers suffer most in the aftermath of a flooding episode. The present study area, Busu River, accounts for a major source of flash flood that affects the low lying areas. The present study aims at assessing the landscape level or geomorphologic pattern of Busu river catchment culminating in delineation of flood hazard risk zone using multi-criteria evaluation and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) appraisal in the GIS and Remote sensing environment. The main data layers that are chosen for carrying out the assessment consist of Landsat 8 satellite image, SRTM DEM data, soil data and rainfall data. Several thematic layers are prepared from the data base as mentioned, followed by assigning weight age to each thematic layer generated. The final flood hazard risk zone was prepared through overlay analysis of several weighted thematic layers. The output flood hazard risk zone map was delineated and reclassified as ‘very high', ‘high', ‘moderate' and ‘low’ risk zones.