A group of researchers led by Dr. Maneesha V Ramesh, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, met with Sri Kunghanima Lepcha, the State Minister for Land Revenue & Disaster Management, Sikkim. Dr. Maneesha is also the Director of the Centre for Wireless Networks and Applications at Amrita that does groundbreaking work in areas of disaster risk reduction. Amrita has deployed an AI-integrated Internet of Things (IoT) system for detection and early warning of landslides in Sikkim, Northeast Himalayas. It has been deployed in 11 places in Chandmari near Gangtok. Dr. Maneesha along with Amrita researchers Nithin Kumar and Balmukund Singh visited the sites and met with a high-level panel headed by Sikkim Disaster Management Authority Director Prabhakar Rai and the representatives of local bodies.

The team subsequently met with Sri Kunghanima Lepcha, State Minister for Land Revenue & Disaster Management. The minister expressed his delight about the disaster risk reduction initiative that Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has undertaken in the area and expressed and extended the government’s wholehearted support. The team from Amrita along with the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority conducted awareness programs for the people living in the areas where the early warning system has been deployed.

The team from Amrita informed the government regarding the next phase of the project that includes training the group/selected members of the local population with the technical knowledge regarding the early landslide warning system. Dr. Maneesha has informed that the team will be trained by experts at Amritapuri Campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.