{"id":85323,"date":"2022-06-23T10:44:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T10:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/?p=85323"},"modified":"2024-02-21T13:08:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T13:08:10","slug":"developing-regional-scale-landslide-forecasting-in-hazard-prone-regions-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/news\/developing-regional-scale-landslide-forecasting-in-hazard-prone-regions-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing regional-scale landslide forecasting in hazard-prone regions of India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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An international research team has co-developed a prototype, regional-scale landslide forecasting system in two hazard-prone districts of India, helping authorities to improve early warning and build resilience to rainfall-triggered landslides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prototype, managed by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), enabled authorities in the hazard-prone districts of Nilgiris and Darjeeling to receive experimental daily landslide forecast bulletins for rainfall-triggered landslides during the 2020 and 2021 summer monsoons.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Darjeeling, India. BGS \u00a9 UKRI.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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It was developed by a multidisciplinary team consisting of physical scientists, engineers, social scientists and practitioners from nine organisations in the UK, Italy and India, under a five-year funded research grant from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) called LANDSLIP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landslides in India<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Landslides in India are most commonly caused by intense rainfall, snowmelt, earthquakes and human activity. They directly impact dense settlements (particularly hill towns), national highways, strategic trade corridors and heritage sites. Over twelve per cent of the Indian landmass is prone to landslides, with the Himalaya and Western Ghats regions particularly prone due to the specific climatic, geomorphological and geological factors found there. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Landslide impact on roads in Darjeeling, India. BGS \u00a9 UKRI.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Landslides can be devastating for communities in landslide-prone areas, potentially causing injury, loss of life and damage to homes, livelihoods and vital infrastructure. Anthropogenic activities such as deforestation, road building, slash-and-burn cultivation and mining can also increase the risk of landslides occurring.<\/p>\n

Emma Bee, BGS and co-lead of the LANDSLIP project.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n

Helping to build resilience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

More frequent and more extreme weather events, coupled with poor land-management practices, rapid urbanisation and tourism, are likely to have contributed to a rise in the number of landslides observed in India that caused damage to lives and livelihoods in the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction sets out seven global targets and four priorities to be achieved by 2030. This framework is prompting governments to seek solutions to increase resilience to hazards, such as landslides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LANDSLIP project<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Led by researchers at BGS and King\u2019s College London (KCL), the LANDSLIP project \u2014 ‘Landslide multi-hazard risk assessment, preparedness and early warning in South Asia: integrating meteorology, landscape and society’ \u2014 assembled a multidisciplinary and multi-agency team from three countries, including GSI, the principal government agency for landslides in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n