Community leaders play a crucial role in reducing disaster risk and enhancing preparedness at the community level. However, despite their importance, research on the role of community leaders in the context of landslide risk management, particularly in relation to the implementation of emergency response plans (ERP), remains limited. The study aimed to assess the associations between socio-demographic, natural hazards and landslides knowledge, early warning systems (EWS), and ERP with community leaders’ practice in landslide management (pre, during and post). A cross-sectional design was utilised among 137 respondents residing in landslide-prone areas. Results showed that gender and educational attainment were both significantly associated with community leaders’ landslide management practices. Knowledge of natural hazards and landslides also had a positive influence on their practices. In contrast, EWS showed no significant effect on landslide management practice (p > 0.05). Community leaders with an ERP were found to be 11.6 times more likely to implement the practices compared with those without one. It is recommended that community leaders develop an ERP specifically to strengthen landslide preparedness. Contribution: The research assessed the knowledge and practice of community leaders in landslide management. It is necessary to provide an emergency response plan for community leaders to enhance landslide preparedness, particularly for vulnerable groups. Copyright: © 2025. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/).