GIS based model for the landslides risk assessment. A case study in Hunza-Nagar settlements, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

•Natural disasters are the main threat for all living organisms and environment.•The disasters, landslides and flashfloods have negative impacts on mountain regions.•The objective of this study is to expose the disaster risk for safety of community.•The geo-spatial techniques determine and make possible to highlight risk zones.•The spatial surfaces are suitable for generate patterns of maps using GPS survey. This research examines multi-dimension fields and evaluates the relationship between physical landscapes and human induced activities which may cause disaster events particularly in the mountainous regions. These disasters may cause physical and non-physical losses. The main objective of this study is to identify the risk assessment in the villages of Hunza-Nagar valleys and to measure the disaster risk levels for the purpose of exploring the vulnerable communities. The study revealed geo-spatial techniques and generated a model for disaster risk assessment such as; Overlay analysis. Seven major parameters have been used in a raster format, i.e. Slope, Spatial surface, Vegetation Index, catastrophic surface; Pixel based surface temperature, flow direction, and image classification. The analysis showed that 12 villages were protected zone while 10 villages were identified at high risk locations. These villages covered around 193.32 km2 of area. In the aspect of village based study, it has been identified that 20.880 km2 of area is considered in the very high risk zones, but 29.29 km2 of the area has been shown in the protected areas. The natural hazards are common phenomenon in our environment which have unpredictable and multi-dimensional effects.