App to forecast landslide occurrence in The Nilgiris

Dr GP Ganapathy, Director, Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, VIT, said, “Our team, which included students, developed an early warning system using wireless sensor network, rainfall thresholds in application with the latest technology called Internet of Things (IoT). In recent times, casualties and damages due to landslides have increased in the Nilgiri Hills. The project basically concentrates on using the Internet of Things (IoT) to find out the movement on slopes and hilly areas to predict and alert people living down the hill regarding the occurrence of landslide.” 

The project, which successfully completed the pilot testing phase, is funded by ISRO. Elaborating further on the technology, Dr Ganapathy added, “A setup of wireless sensors with Internet connection will be installed in the slopes, which are most prone to landslides. A programme has been developed based on the history of landslides in The Nilgiris in connection with the rainfall threshold. Most of these landslides are triggered by the heavy intense rainfall that occurs in the district. The slope will be continuously monitored using the sensors, including the slope movement as well as the rainfall threshold. If there are any slight changes or movement in the slope, it will automatically analyse and synchronise the data in the server and send an alert through the mobile app.” 

In case of an impending landslide, alerts will be sent out. “An alert will go out to the District Collector, so that the people can be kept informed. Our team will also be alerted, so that we could analyse if there is a real threat or it is a false alarm,” said Dr Ganapathy, adding that the next step is field testing. “We have done extensive research and studied data of an entire century. We hope to move into the field testing phase soon, after we receive funding,” he added. 

According to this expert, this model can be replicated. “We have only focused on the Nilgiris but this model can be replicated anywhere. This will help us be prepared in case of disaster,” he concluded.