The Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) on Monday said it will launch a series of risk management and prevention measures to help make sure slopes across the city can withstand extreme weather.

This includes expanding the office's slope catalogue to cover natural hillsides, to better analyse landslide risks and put prevention plans in place.

Tests will be carried out on a system for monitoring slopes with drones during periods of heavy rain, while environmental data will be collected to help the office and rescue teams come up with contingency plans for any incidents.

“After adopting the automatic system, we can allow the drones to arrive at different sites, including our LPM [Landslip Preventive Measures] construction sites, slope and landslide sites,” said Lawrence Shum, a GEO deputy head.

“By doing so, they can capture instantly the information of areas, and help us identify some progress of sites, and actual condition of landslide sites and whether we should deploy more resources to handle emergencies,” he added.

The office said it received a total of 181 landslide reports last year. None of them caused any casualties.

“There were no fatalities last year not because the incidents were minor, but instead, the landslides did not hit any buildings or roads,” Shum said.

In 2023, Hong Kong saw its largest recorded rockfall in a century at Yiu Hing Road in Shau Kei Wan during heavy rain, while a landslide also closed Shek O Road for two days.