Landslides are an unavoidable catastrophic force of nature, causing global devastation. Alarmingly, over the past decades landslides have been progressively worsening in their severity and frequency, magnified by a multitude of aggravating human activities and climate change. Human deforestation removes natural tree anchors that keep soil from eroding. Urbanisation disrupts natural drainage patterns. Infrastructure development, such as road or rail construction and mining, destabilises slopes. These activities, and many more, all have a significant role in major ground collapses.
Then, there are the severe storms, rising temperatures and increased precipitation events amplified by climate change. Sudden, prolonged and heavy rainfall over-saturates and loosens soil, a major landslide trigger and the reason why many of the deadliest landslides occur in countries that experience wet seasons or monsoons. Rising global temperatures in mountainous areas thaw permafrost, can ignite wildfires, and lead to prolonged drought; all factors that may eventually incite a landslide. Mountains with recent drought or severe burns are particularly at risk, because it makes the soil become water-repellent. Instead of soaking into the ground, rainwater flows freely, picking up soil and forming a mudslide. Extreme weather events like typhoons or hurricanes are another huge risk factor in provoking massive slope failures.
Mitigating landslide risk
Landslide risk management uses specific geoengineering approaches that minimise slope movement, including preventative measures such as:
- Retaining walls
- Slope stabilisation
- Drainage systems
- Rock bolting
- Geotextiles
- Vegetation cover
- Infrastructure planning
- Erosion control & land management
These methods may prevent minor rock fall and predictable ground collapse in at-risk areas, but can’t hold back a major ground failure event caused by extreme rainfall, earthquake, eruption, explosion or other sudden trigger. If a landslide can’t be avoided, there’s only one option: evacuate!
As with any natural disaster, early action determines severity of tragedy, and for risk mitigation to occur an early warning system is absolutely fundamental. When the ground moves, there are only seconds to act. For such an early warning system to work, it must rely upon near-instant event detection.
No time to lose: Detect, warn, act
Thankfully, major advances in wireless remote monitoring tech and edge computing have made real-time slope movement event detection a reality. Worldsensing’s remote monitoring systems deploy digital wireless sensors known as tiltmeters to continuously monitor slopes for deformation. These sensors are connected to the Long Range (LoRa) Network that transmits data, in real-time, wirelessly to a central hub.
This allows for near-instant detection (within a mere 2 seconds of threshold breach) of even the most subtle changes in slope stability, triggering an immediate alert that enables critical automated actions such as activating connected sirens, cameras and other early warning systems that initiate evacuation or other vital risk mitigating procedures.
Benefits beyond early detection
The benefits of remote monitoring extend far beyond early detection. The data collected by such systems can be used to understand the precursors of landslides, allowing for better risk assessment and mitigation strategies. Additionally, Worldsensing wireless sensors can be deployed in even the most remote areas where proactive geoengineering measures such as advanced slope stabilisation is impractical, since the LoRA communications module can cover up to 15 km and can be in place for up to 10 years without maintenance thanks to its low-power protocole.
Responding to real threats: Worldsensing case studies
Case Study #1: Protecting the Taiwan National Freeway
After a significant landslide in 2022, the Taiwanese government mandated real-time slope monitoring on all slopes of a specified gradient, especially alongside one of Taiwan’s main transit arteries, the Taiwan National Freeway No 3.
This large scale project, handled by Sanlien Technology, deployed Worldsensing tiltmeters, vibrating wire data loggers and more than 100 solar-powered gateways to ensure uninterrupted data collection along the motorway.
Taiwanese authorities now have the power to monitor data 24/7 and are able to conduct timely inspections and corrections whenever anomalies are detected. Having this advanced digital technology in place is a crucial step in protecting the many families travelling through Taiwan’s challenging topography.
Read the full success story: Detecting subtle slope angle variations on Taiwan National Freeway No.3
Case Study #2: Three Steep Residential Areas in Malaysia
Malaysia, with its urbanisation of mountainous areas, has suffered several deadly monsoon-triggered landslides over the past decades. However, the country simply doesn’t have the resources to adequately monitor all high-risk areas manually.
As a budget-friendly solution, Worldsensing partner MySTAR successfully set up four Worldsensing wireless tiltmeters and gateways to remotely monitor slope stability and the structural integrity of affected buildings across three at-risk residential sites. Instead of being monitored once every five years, readings are now able to be automatically conducted up to 42 times per day. The Malaysian authorities can now feel empowered to act should a building start to show early, yet critical, signs of collapse.
Read the full success story: Wireless technology for landslide monitoring in residential areas
Standing steady on unstable ground
Worsening landslides demand immediate effective solutions. As climate change pushes us towards an ever more precarious future, it is paramount to build resilient defences and sophisticated early warning systems. Advanced remote monitoring technology has become our most powerful tool for instant event detection, and holds immense potential for risk mitigation, minimising landslide damage, and above all saving lives.
Dive Deeper: No Time to Lose: Worldsensing’s Groundbreaking Instant Event Detection Solution
