Background: Landslides area controversial issue worldwide and cause a wide range of impacts on the socioeconomic
systems of the affected community. However, empirical studies of affected environments remain
inadequate for prediction and decision making. This study aims to estimate the direct impact of a massive landslide
that occurred around areas with Kandyan home gardens (KHGs)in Aranayake, Sri Lanka.
Results: Primary data were gathered by structured questionnaire from residents of the directly affected regions; the
questionnaire data were combined with spatial data to acquire detailed information about the livelihoods and
hazards at the household level. Satellite images were used to find affected land use and households prior to the
landslide. Further, secondary data were obtained to assess the recovery cost. A multiple regression model was
established to estimate the economic value of the home gardens. Field surveys and satellite images revealed that
land-use practices during the past decades have caused environmental imbalance and have led to slope instability.
Conclusions: The results reveal that 52% of household income is generated by the KHG and that the income level
highly depends on the extent of the land (R2 = 0.85, p < 0.05). The extent of destroyed land that was obtained from
the satellite images and the age of the KHG were used to develop a multiple regression model to estimate the
economic loss of the KHG. It was found that the landslide affected region had been generating approximately US$
160,000 annually from their home gardens toward the GDP of the country. This study found that almost all houses
in the area were at risk of further sliding, and all of them were partially or entirely affected by the landslide. Among
the affected households, 60% (40 houses) had completelycollapsed, whereas 40% (27 houses) were partially
damaged. Because of these circumstances, the government must provide US $ 40,369 to recover the fully and
partially damaged households. Finally, a lack of awareness and unplanned garden cultivation were the main
contributing factors that increased the severity of the damage.
Keywords: Socio-economy, Landslide, Direct loss from the landslide, Spatial data