Abstract. Natural hazards are caused by different phenomena: landslides, earthquakes, floods etc. All the manifestations of forces of nature are called phenomena. We are speaking then of natural risks when these problems are threatening, with varying degrees, human activities, causing significant damage to human life, property and the environment. The need to consider natural hazards in land use planning tasks has become a major concern. During these past years, Algeria has been hit by frequent natural disasters, with the most recent ones endangering the lives of people and causing priceless damage, faced with such a situation the company of adequate measures, capable of exercising effective prevention, is essential. In addition to the seismic risk, for which prevention still needs to be improved, Algeria must also face gravity processes such as landslides. By their suddenness, they can put people in danger and destroy entire buildings involving the evacuation of entire neighbourhoods where the financial impact is significant on the state budget and local government. The main interest of this paper is the feasibility of a plan for prevention of natural disasters related to landslides based on geological maps, topography, hydrogeological and on existing buildings and vulnerability, and eventually lead to a Zoning risk that would be considered for inclusion in the Master Plan of Urban Planning and Land Use Plan and provide support for decisions taken by local authorities for the selection of sites.

Abstract. This paper aims to characterize materials used in the embankment for the highway, namely the identification and analysis of mechanical characteristics of materials which would be used in the construction of the East/West Motorway, section Constantine-Annaba (experimental study). However, the tests were carried out in geotechnical laboratory of the University of Constantine1. Then, for validating the results obtained in experiments, a numerical modelling of the plate bearing test by a finite element method (FEM) has been carried out using "PLAXIS" software. The numerical results obtained are in good agreement with those of the experimental.