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Landslide Early Warning System Development in Chittagong, Bangladesh

9 May 2016

Two members of the IRDR,

Bayes Certificate ucl.ac.uk/silva/rdr/people/ahmed-bayes">Bayes Ahmed and Prof. David Alexander have been involved in a project in Bangladesh, developing a Web-GIS based early warning system for communities in Chittagong, Bangladesh that at risk of landslides. This project took place between June 2014 and September 2015 and involved fieldwork in the at risk areas.

A series of scientific reports including the landslide inventory, soil investigation, social survey, rainfall pattern and land cover modeling, slope stability mapping, and report on early warning system were produced as part of this project.  Training was provided for those people in vulnerable communities to create awareness and on how to interpret the warning system correctly. Now it is possible to send an early warning through email notifications to the subscribed users in four days advance. The alert system was developed combining local knowledge, community needs, and analysing relevant layers of biophysical parameters and considering the rainfall and soil characteristic of the study area.  Public organisations in Bangladesh have highlighted this project as being successful and able to be replicated in a similar context.

Bayes Ahmed worked as a key person in this project from writing the research proposal to presenting it at the final national seminar held at BUET-JIDPUS. Professor Alexander was involved in this project as an advisor.  All the project reports and outcomes can be found in the website: http://www.landslidebd.com/.

In addition, Bayes received the 'ICT for Mountain Development Award 2015' from ICIMOD for his contribution in developing this alert system using latest geospatial techniques and tools. The award URL can be found at: http://www.icimod.org/?q=20601

This project was funded by SERVIR, a joint initiative of USAID (US Agency for International Development) and NASA. The project was implemented by the BUET-Japan Institute of Disaster Prevention and Urban Safety (BUET-JIDPUS), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and the The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) monitored and assessed the project. The project started in June 2014 and was completed in September 2015.