Comparison of different rock fall hazard mapping methods: challenges in harmonising current procedures

Rock falls represent a serious threat to communities living in mountainous areas in several European countries, and their potential hazard must be taken into account for an appropriate land-use planning and for establishing risk reduction measures. European-wide standard methods for hazard evaluation and mapping would be a very important step towards more transparent, reproducible and comparable proce-dures used for these purposes, and would provide as well a higher uniformity in land use planning and risk management. However, the current situation in Europe shows the opposite tendency, as some coun-tries have already developed their own strategies for evaluating and mapping rock fall hazards, which are far from being possibly harmonised. This paper analyses some practical difficulties to account for when trying to compare and setting standards in methodologies for rockfall hazard mapping.