Abstract:
Landslides which cause degradation of slopes through soil loss is one of the major climate related
disasters in Sri Lanka and the highest number of landslides was recorded in Badulla district. This study
attempts to identify the economic costs of landslides in Hali-Ela Divisional Secretariat Division (DSD)
which recorded the highest number of displaced people in recent landslides in the Badulla District.
Primary data collected through a questionnaire was used for this study. Two stage cluster sampling
technique was used to select 160 households in six Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions including
Bogahamadiththa (20), Spreenweli (40), Panakenniya (20), Kandana (25), Bulatwatta (25) and
Ketawala (30) from the 57 GNs in Hali-Ela DSD and the systematic random sampling technique was
used to select households. Descriptive statistics, simple regression and chi-square test are used for the
analysis.
Majority of the sample are in high (46.8%) and medium risk (34%) areas of landslides. Mean distance
between house and the nearest recent landslide is recorded as 478m. Landslides have both direct and
indirect economic costs. Regarding direct costs, mean damage cost and mean replacement cost for last
five years are recorded as Rs.115,790.91 and Rs.78,954.55 respectively showing that only half of the
damage is recovering. Regarding indirect economic costs, land value has been deteriorating due to
landslides as found by the positive relationship between the land value and the distance to the nearest
landslide using hedonic pricing approach. The uncertainty created by the risk of landslide reverses the
overall development of the household (62%) including delay of housing construction (62%),
agricultural activities (21.6%), road construction (9.3%) and getting electricity (5.2%).
