Unexpected spatial inequality of fatal landslide impacts

Abstract Beyond inflicting loss of life and destroying livelihoods, fatal landslides exacerbate social disparities. Yet fatalities and fatality rates alone cannot capture the underlying drivers that turn landslides from natural hazards into human tragedies. Here, we utilize the most up-to-date national database of fatal landslides in China to evaluate systematically the spatial heterogeneity of their impacts at the county level. We find prominent spatial inequalities in fatal landslide consequences, particularly in plateau regions and densely populated areas. Quantitative partitioning shows that terrain exposure accounts for 43.7% of the observed inequality, while social capacity contributes 53.0%. Population density exerts a nonlinear influence on spatial inequality; once it exceeds 1950 persons per km 2 , inequality rises sharply by approximately 155%. Slope, human footprint, and hospital travel time emerge as the dominant determinants nationally. These insights assist the development of disaster mitigation strategies that better identify vulnerable populations and reduce the inequality in landslide impacts.