●
At the 5th
World Landslide Forum in Kyoto, Japan, the International Programme on
Landslides (IPL) awarded the title in recognition of the University’s contribution
towards landslide risk reduction
●
Amrita University has
successfully deployed the world's first wireless sensor network system which
was later upgraded to the AI integrated Internet of Things (IoT) system for
detection and early warning of landslides in Western Ghats and Himalayas, the
two major global landslide hotspots.
●
The system has
successfully provided warnings to the community through the Government during
the years 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021
Mumbai,
19 November 2021: For the second time in a row,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has been conferred the title of "World Centre
of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction (WCoEs)" by the International
Programme on Landslides (IPL). The re-election is a testament to the
University’s groundbreaking work on detection and early warning of landslides.
The University will hold the title till 2023.
The
title was conferred at the 5th World Landslide Forum held in Kyoto,
Japan on 2-6 November 2021. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, which has held this title
since 2017 is among 19 WCoE’s globally. The University has successfully
deployed the world’s first wireless sensor network system which was later
upgraded to the AI integrated Internet of Things (IoT) system for detection and
early warning of landslides in Munnar, Kerala. At the request of the Government
of India, Amrita has also deployed a similar system in Sikkim, Northeast
Himalayas. This applied research, with significant global value for all
landslide-prone areas, was directly initiated by the University Chancellor,
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi to develop low-cost technologies for wide-area
monitoring of landslides, to save human life.
Dr.
Maneesha Sudheer, Provost, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Professor &
Director, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Applications, who heads
landslide research, said, “It is a matter of pride for Amrita Vishwa
VIdyapeetham to be re-elected as a World Centre of Excellence. It motivates us
to improve our capabilities in partnership with other globally renowned centres
to develop solutions for building national and community scale landslide
disaster risk reduction. With the ever-increasing frequency of landslides, we
hope to build on our end-to-end systems for real-time monitoring, detection,
and early warning of landslides in India to prevent fatalities, and build
community scale landslide resilience. The University is also working on
developing a comprehensive framework for community level landslide risk
reduction and resilience, which includes landslide hazard mapping, remote
sensing, low-cost sensing, big-data analytics, and decision models.”
The
vision of the "World Centre of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction
(WCoEs)" is “Disaster Risk Reduction Through Real-Time Landslide
Monitoring and Early Warning Systems Integrated with Co-designing and Community
Engagement Programs”. The sub objectives
of the WCoE will include:
(a)
Development of Low Cost Deep
Earth Probes and Intelligent Wireless Probes with Edge Computing for Enhanced
Monitoring
(b)
Development of IoT Framework for
Large Scale Monitoring of Landslides
(c)
Decision Models using Machine
Learning and Artificial Intelligence
(d)
Adaptive Multi scale Warning
Models
(e)
Enhancing Community Resilience
through Multiple Techniques & Approaches
Amrita
Vishwa Vidyapeetham has partnered with several international landslide research
experts such as CNR, Italy, UK Met Office, the British Geological Society, and
KCL in a landslide-research project, to develop regional thresholds for
landslide warning from the real-time data of AMRITA’s field deployment in the
Himalayas and the Western Ghats. This project titled LANDSLIP engages the
community in providing an integrated early warning system to reduce the landslide
risk. The University successfully deployed the world’s first wireless sensor network
system which was later upgraded to an Internet of Things (IoT) system for
detection and early warning of landslides in Munnar, Kerala in 2009. The system
is capable of issuing both regional and site specific warnings. Since
deployment, the system has issued multiple advanced landslide warnings, in the
years 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The communities in danger
were evacuated by the Government after the warnings and the landslides that
happened in the Munnar area validates the warnings. These warnings have
essentially become a lifeline for the region, during the torrential rains that lash throughout the state.
Impressed by the success story, in 2015 in collaboration with the Government of
India, Amrita developed a similar system for the Sikkim Himalayan region which
is very active geologically and is vulnerable to rainfall-induced landslides.
The IoT system in Sikkim is deployed in collaboration with the Sikkim State
Disaster Management Authority and is being co-funded by the Ministry of Earth
Sciences, Govt. of India.
Landslides
rank as the third most deadly natural disaster, with $400 billion being spent
annually worldwide for landslide disaster management. Thousands die every year
from landslides. In India, the frequency of landslides has increased. Data
suggests that over 12% of the land area in India is susceptible to landslides.
The major landslide-prone areas in India include the Western Ghats and Konkan
hills (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra); Eastern Ghats (Araku
region in Andhra Pradesh); North East Himalayas (Darjeeling and Sikkim), and
North West Himalayas (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir).
Sikkim Specific:
The
IoT (Internet of Things) based system developed by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
for Early Warning of landslides is specifically tailored to the Himalayan
terrain. The system consists of over 200 sensors that measure various
hydrological, meteorological, and geophysical parameters like rainfall, pore
pressure, and seismic activity. The system monitors a densely populated area
spread across 150 acres around the Chandmari village in Sikkim’s Gangtok
district. The system collects real-time continuous data from the deployed
sensors, performs first-level analysis and assessment at the Field Management
Centre located in Sikkim and then the data is relayed to the Data Management
Centre at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. To enhance the system’s reliability and
enhance the advanced alert capabilities, a 3 level Landslide Early Warning
Model has been developed by university researchers.
About International Program on Landslides
http://icl.iplhq.org/category/icl/home-icl/
The
International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), with a Secretariat in Kyoto,
Japan, was created in 2002 as an international non-governmental and non-profit
scientific organization. The International Programme on Landslides (IPL) is a
joint program established by the ICL, five United Nations organizations related
to landslides and global NGOs in the field of science and engineering. This
initiative is a part of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction. The activities of IPL include sponsoring projects worldwide,
identification and coordination of World Centres of Excellence on Landslide
Risk Reduction, and organizing a World Landslide Forum every three years.
About Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is a multi-campus, multidisciplinary
Institution of Eminence accredited by NAAC.
Amrita
Vishwa Vidyapeetham (www.amrita.edu) is a very young University (18
years of age) growing at a rapid pace in terms of its research and academic programs.
Today we are ranked in the Top 100 universities in the World for its Impact as per
THE 2021 Impact Rankings) (www.amrita.edu/rankings). In India, as per the National
Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF), we are ranked as the 4th best university
amongst all public and private universities. Recently we were also the youngest
University in India to be accredited with the highest grade of A++ by National
Accreditation Council (NAAC), Government of India
Amrita partners with academic,
industry and governmental institutions across the world to accomplish
human-centered, translational, and groundbreaking research. To date, Amrita has
more than 500 collaborations from more than 200 signed Memorandums of Understanding
(MoUs). Some of Amrita’s partners include Harvard University, Columbia
University, King’s College London, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, VU
Amsterdam, the British Geological Society, University of Oxford, Italian
National Research Council, Deakin University, and the University of Tokyo. Sri
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), a world-renowned humanitarian leader is the
founder, Chancellor, and guiding light of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Amma’s
words, thoughts, and vision for education and research have shaped the
university’s mission and vision.
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