Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
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Image copyright REUTERSImage caption Landslides are common in India after heavy rains
Landslides are common in rural and mountainous areas of India, especially after heavy rain. Scientists now say they have developed a low-cost technology for detecting them, using a motion sensor commonly found in smartphones.
The device is currently being trialled in more than 20 locations in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, where landslides kill dozens of people every year.
Scientists say they are hopeful that it will help drastically reduce the deaths and damage caused by these natural disasters.
An accelerometer is a type of motion sensor which measures changes in velocity. In smartphones, this is what allows people to use compass and maps applications and even flip their screens horizontally or vertically.
But now scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district have found that with some modifications, it can be used as a low-cost early warning system for landslides.
They told BBC Click’s Shubham Kishore that it will cost an estimated 20,000 rupees (£218; $282) to manufacture – a fraction of the cost of existing technologies.
Authorities say the frequency of landslides in Himachal Pradesh is due to its mountainous terrain and the instability of the Himalayas, which is a relatively young mountain range.
However, excessive rain, rampant deforestation, and unauthorised construction has exacerbated the problem.
Image copyright IIT MANDIImage caption One of the devices being fitted
The Environmental Information (ENVIS) centre for the Ministry of Environment and Forest said in a report that casualties from landslides were also growing because “the increase of road connectivity and number of vehicles plying on these roads in the state, means the number of road accidents and loss of precious human lives is increasing day by day”.
This is because landslides frequently wash away roads and destroy homes – many of which are built with materials like clay mud or unburned bricks.
Early warning
Dr Varun Dutt, a computer engineer, with his colleague, Dr KV Uday, a civil engineer, are leading efforts to develop the technology. These researchers say they are using the motion sensor to measure soil movements.
“When we embed it in the soil, the accelerometer will move when the soil moves. Essentially soil moves if some force acts on it.
“What the sensor does is allow us to record the extent of that movement. It throws up a range of data that then allows us to track small displacements in soil which causes landslides,” Dr Dutt told the BBC’s Ayeshea Perera.
He explained that a series of small soil movements could help provide an early warning to a larger disaster in the making. Due to the early warnings from small movements, detecting a landslide is easier than trying to detect an earthquake, which is more instantaneous with a very small warning corridor.
The device measures all these movements, and when it detects a significant displacement of earth which could result in a landslide, it emits loud noises and sends text messages to officials so that they can evacuate and stop vehicular movement to and around the area.
Image copyright AFPImage caption The new device helps to detect landslides
The device has already seen some success.
In Kutropi, in the state’s Mandi district, the device was able to successfully alert officials about an impending landslide. Police were able to turn away vehicles from a road that was later completely washed away.
Dr Uday told the BBC that they have managed to alert officials after using the device that a hill in the state’s Deode region needed to be monitored carefully as the soil movements indicated that the hill was at risk of sliding.
Dr Dutt says that state officials – who often have to deal with the tragic consequences of landslides – are excited about the technology.
“We were invited to present it at a workshop by the state government in partnership with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) earlier this year.
“We showcased the technology and we got a lot of requests to commercialise it. So now we are in the process of marketing it and setting it up,” he said.
At present, the device has managed to demonstrate enough of a lead time to allow officials to warn residents and motorists shortly before a potential landslide.
But Dr Dutt and Dr Uday want the technology to be more predictive than reactive.
So the team has begun using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning on the sets of data thrown up by the device, and are hoping that it can develop algorithms that will enable them to predict landslides 24 hours or even a week in advance.
These algorithms are currently being refined, and scientists are hoping to test them more accurately in the field by the 2020 monsoon.
“We are excited but we want it to be accurate. There should be fewer false alarms.
“The good part is that policymakers understand that this is experimental work and it will improve as more data gets collected. If it all goes to plan, it will be very useful,” Dr Dutt said.
No other injuries reported following accident on southern island of Hainan
Military is currently intensifying training for pilots as it looks to strengthen capabilities
Mobile phone footage believed to be taken from the crash site. Photo: Handout
A Chinese navy plane crashed in Hainan province on Tuesday killing two crew members, the military said.
A short statement said the crash happened during a training exercise over rural Ledong county in the southern island province.
No one else was reported to have been injured after the plane hit the ground and the cause of the incident is being investigated.
Footage that purported to be taken from the crash site started circulating on social media after the accident.
The mobile phone footage, which news portal 163.com said was taken in Hainan, showed smoke rising from piles of wreckage next to a damaged water tower as bystanders gathered at the site.
Footage apparently taken at the crash site. Photo: Handout
The person who uploaded the footage said the plane had hit the water tower before crashing into the ground.
The PLA’s official statement did not specify the type plane that crashed, although unverified witness account online said it was a twin-seat Xian JH-7 “Flying Leopard”.
The JH-7, which entered service with the navy and air force in the 1990s, has been involved in a number of fatal accidents over the years.
The country’s worst military air accident in recent years happened in January 2018. At least 12 crew members died when a PLA Air Force plane, believed to be an electronic reconnaissance aircraft, crashed in Guizhou in the southwest of the country.
Between 2016 and 2017, there were at least four accidents involving the navy’s J-15 “Flying Sharks”, one of them resulting in the death of the pilot.
Military commentators have previously said that China’s drive to improve its combat readiness, which includes the building of new aircraft carriers and warplanes, has resulted in a serious shortage of qualified pilots.
To fill the vacancies the Chinese military has started a major recruitment drive and intensive training programme for pilot pilots.
One unverified report said the plane that crashed was a JH-7 “Flying Leopard”. Photo. Xinhua
Currently China has one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, in service, which can carry a maximum of 24 J-15s as well as other aircraft.
Meanwhile, the new home-grown carrier Type 001A will soon be commissioned, which is designed to accommodate to carry eight more fighters.
In addition, construction is believed to have started on another carrier that will be able to carry heavier and more advanced warplanes.
According to figures from the end of 2016, there were only 25 pilots qualified to fly the J-15 while 12 others were in training.
Most of the Chinese navy’s pilots have been redeployed from the air force, which is itself in need of more trained pilots.
This year the navy for the first time began a nation-wide programme to scout out potential pilots.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing legislative meeting in Beijing Feng Wei, a PLA pilot from the Western Theatre, said the military was currently intensifying its pilots’ training as increasing amounts of new equipment entered service.
“Personnel quality is the key to everything,” he added.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 