An international workshop was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand during December 18 – 20, 2009. Amrita’s Dr. Maneesha Ramesh was one of two institutional representatives from India, invited to attend.

This invitation-only workshop on The Establishment and Sustenance of a Network for Education and Research in Disaster Risk Management in South-East Asia was attended by all key players from Asia.

Dr. Maneesha together with Dr. Champathi Ray from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun represented India. Other key participants included representatives from Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

There were representatives from the United Nations Development Program and the World Food Program. The International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands was represented by three senior delegates.

Dr. Maneesha spoke about the deployment of India’s first-ever wireless sensor network for landslide detection. This system designed and developed at Amrita collects and transmits geo-spacio temporal data from the field using various wireless transmission technologies.

“Further analysis of this data is done at Amrita using data analysis and landslide modeling software,” Dr. Maneesha explained. “We have also setup two landslide laboratories at Amrita. In the future, we hope to incorporate remote sensing capabilities in our landslide detection system.”

The Government of India has expressed interest in deploying the system in various parts of the country that are prone to landslides and avalanches. “The use of this system could also be extended to industrial sites prone to gas leakages and areas having regular forest fires,” Dr. Maneesha explained further.

The workshop was primarily organized by the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), an Associate Institute of the United Nations University (UNU). Like Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, UNU also adopts a holistic approach to solving the complex problems that face humanity. ITC collaborates with UNU for implementing capacity building programs in the fields of disaster geo-information management and land administration.

Other organizers included the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). The latter is a non-profit organization supporting the advancement of safer communities and sustainable development, through implementing programs and projects that reduce the impact of disasters upon countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific.

December 30, 2010
Center for Wireless Networks and Applications