India is developing a landslide warning system: how it works and why it is a challenging task

India developing a landslide warning system. Know more…

Thursday, 19th August 2021

This monsoon season is one of the busiest seasons for rescuers and rescuers, and they are deployed across India due to deadly landslides caused by continuous rains. Although they may save some lives, the death toll has been increasing. As early warning systems begin to take shape, organizations such as the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) will soon have information on impending landslides.

It is currently in the experimental stage, and scientists from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) hope to activate a landslide warning system in parts of India starting in 2025. The newly developed system will provide important information for Authorities to initiate disaster preparedness activities in the cyclone warning system and try to predict the possibility of landslides in specific areas.

GSI has started test operations of two of these systems in Darjeeling in West Bengal and the Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu and is coordinating with the organization of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, including the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD ) to predict landslides.

What is the early warning system for predicting landslides?

This tool is called the Regional Landslide Early Warning System and is developed by the Geological Survey of India. Once put to use, it will predict the probability of landslides on specific slopes and locations. The European Landslip consortium, which has been studying slope movement since 2017, decided to build a new facility.

Research has been conducted in Darjeeling and Nilgiri, and the team will be able to develop prototypes in 2020 and begin providing predictions for local governments. "The world's best practice shows that it takes 8-10 years to test the accuracy and good predictions of such a system. However, in India, we cannot wait that long, so we are working hard to make 10 such facilities for at least 10 years. States will operate in 2025, "said Dr. Saibal Ghos, Director of Landslide Research.

How does the early warning system work?

The system uses data from previous landslides and rainfall in the area to predict the probability of slope movement. According to GSI officials, more than 80% of landslides in India are caused by rain, and the researchers will create rain threshold data. The threshold data will indicate the amount of rainfall that can cause landslides.

GSI is working with IMD, ISRO, and other sister organizations to monitor rainfall forecasts in various regions and compare them with threshold data to predict landslides in the region. Different locations have different threshold data, so it takes at least five years of observations to predict slope movement.

Challenges in developing an early warning system

GSI is currently developing the first such systems in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttarakhand, and Sikkim. Although it has launched pilot systems in Bangladesh and Tamil Nadu, due to delays in collecting threshold numbers, work in other states has not yet started.

"The delay is due to no data. For example, you can get landslide data, but if there is no data, we cannot compare it to precipitation in the area, making it difficult to prepare the threshold data.", Saibal Go Said Dr. Shi. When it comes to rainfall, another challenge is the lack of data in India, because every state does not have a unified registry and the unpredictability of the Indian climate makes it more difficult for researchers to prepare the data.

Dr.Ghosh added that climate change has made the need for landslide warning systems even more important due to the increasing number of such incidents in the country. Recently, a landslide occurred in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh. Heavy rainfall in a short period of time-triggered rapid slope movement and killed more than 15 people.

Similar landslide warning systems are currently operating in 26 countries around the world, including the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

"The landslide warning system being developed in India will be world-class because we rely on the experience of our European partners who are already using it in their country," Ghosh said. The researchers hope that once the early warning system is put into use, it will help better preparations, as will the cyclone early warning system, which has been continuously improved over the years and has become an important part of India's response to cyclones.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

Indiatoday