Abstract
The Indian Himalayan regions have been significantly affected by the increase in the frequency of landslide occurrence. Thirty percentage of the worldwide landslide incidents occur in the Himalayan region with 42% of India’s landslide region belonging to Darjeeling–Sikkim Himalayas (NDMA Report, 2011). Several studies have been carried out worldwide on early warning systems considering rainfall history. Although rainfall is one of the criteria which can successfully predict the probability of landslides on a regional scale, it is indeed difficult to understand the risk associated with slope failure. The reason is the spatial variation of rainfall intensity, local soil conditions, geology, hydrology and topography. An early warning and monitoring system is one of the most effective techniques to minimise the disasters influenced by slope instability as it is less expensive and easier than slope reinforcement. A reliable and robust system fitted with microelectromechanical systems tilt sensor and volumetric water content sensors were installed. The sensor monitors the tilting angle of the instrument which was installed at shallow depths, and the variation of tilting angle corresponds to lateral displacement at slope surface. The primary objective was to monitor the tilting angles at various slope sites and to formulate a dependable warning system with a low probability of false alarms in Chibo Pashyor region in the Indian state of West Bengal. Such system would assist in the installation of several low-cost sensors over an active slope as it was difficult to determine the particular section of slope which could fail in the next heavy rainfall. The change in tilting rate would help in establishing thresholds determined empirically. Such system would help in developing an early warning system and also help in calibrating thresholds calculated using empirical techniques.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baum LB, Godt JW (2010) Early warning of rainfall-induced shallow landslides and debris flows in the USA. Landslides 7:259–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-009-0177-0
Baum RL, Savage WZ, Godt JW (2002) TRIGRS—a Fortran program for transient rainfall infiltration and grid-based regional slope-stability analysis. US Geological Survey, Open-File Report 02-424, 61 pp
Baum RL, Savage WZ, Godt JW (2008) TRIGRS—a Fortran program for transient rainfall infiltration and grid-based regional slope-stability analysis, version 2.0. US Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2008-1159, 75 pp
Berti M, Martina MLV, Franceschini S, Pignone S, Simoni A, Pizziolo M (2012) Probabilistic rainfall thresholds for landslide occurrence using a Bayesian approach. J Geophys Res 117:F04006. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002367
Capparelli G, Tiranti D (2010) Application of the MoniFLaIR early warning system for rainfall-induced landslides in Piedmont region (Italy). Landslides 7(4):401–410
Capparelli G, Versace P (2011) FLaIR and SUSHI: two mathematical models for early warning of landslides induced by rainfall. Landslides 8(1):67–79
De Luca DL, Versace P (2017) Diversity of rainfall thresholds for early warning of hydro-geological disasters. Adv Geosci 44:53–60. https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-53-2017
Dikshit A, Satyam N (2017a) Application of FLaIR model for early warning system in Chibo Pashyor, Kalimpong, India for rainfall-induced landslides. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci Discuss. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2017-295
Dikshit A, Satyam N (2017) Rainfall thresholds for the prediction of landslides using empirical methods in Kalimpong, Darjeeling, India. In: Workshop on advances in landslide understanding, JTC1, Barcelona, pp 255–259
Dikshit A, Satyam DN (2018) Estimation of rainfall thresholds for landslide occurrences in Kalimpong, India. Innov Infrastruct Solut 3:24
Froehlich W, Starkel L (1987) Normal and extreme monsoon rains—their role in the shaping of the Darjeeling Himalaya. Stud Geomorphol Carpath Balc 21:129–156
Glade T, Crozier M, Smith P (2000) Applying probability determination to refine landslide-triggering rainfall thresholds using an empirical “Antecedent Daily Rainfall Model”. Pure appl Geophys 57:1059–1079
Guzzetti F, Peruccacci S, Rossi M, Stark CP (2007) The rainfall intensity—duration control of shallow landslides and debris flows: an update. Landslides 5:3–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-007-0112-1
Hong Y, Hiura H, Shino K, Sassa K, Suemine A, Fukuoka H, Wang G (2005) The influence of intense rainfall on the activity of large-scale crystalline schist landslides in Shikoku Island, Japan. Landslides 2:97–105. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-004-0043-z
Huang J, Ju NP, Liao YJ, Liu DD (2015) Determination of rainfall thresholds for shallow landslides by a probabilistic and empirical method. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 15:2715–2723. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-2715-2015
Kanungo DP, Sharma S (2014) Rainfall thresholds for prediction of shallow landslides around Chamoli–Joshimath region, Garhwal Himalayas, India. Landslides 11(4):629–638
Keefer DK, Wilson RC, Mark RK, Brabb EE, Brown WM, Ellen SD, Harp EL, Wieczorek GF, Alger CS, Zatkin RS (1987) Real-time landslide warning during heavy rainfall. Science 238(4829):921–925. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.238.4829.921
Mathew J, Babu DG, Kundu S, Kumar KV, Pant CC (2014) Integrating intensity–duration-based rainfall threshold and antecedent rainfall-based probability estimate towards generating early warning for rainfall-induced landslides in parts of the Garhwal Himalaya, India. Landslides 11(4):575–588
Rao P (2009) Landslide Hazard Case Study: the dire need for a comprehensive, long term solution to the landslide problem at Chibo-Pashyor villages, Kalimpong, District Darjeeling, W Bengal. Second India Disaster Management Congress
Sengupta A, Gupta S, Anbarasu K (2010) Rainfall thresholds for the initiation of landslide at Lanta Khola in north Sikkim, India. Nat Hazards 52:31–42
Uchimura T, Towhata I, Wang L, Seko I (2009) Development of low-cost early warning system of slope instability for civilian use. In: Proceedings of the 17th ISSMGE, Alexandria, vol 3, pp 1897–1900
Uchimura T, Towhata I, Trinh TLA, Fukuda J, Bautista CJB, Wang L, Seko I, Uchida T, Matsu-oka A, Ito Y, Onda Y, Iwagami S, Kim MS, Sakai N (2010) Simple monitoring method for precaution of landslides watching tilting and water contents on slopes surface. Landslides 7(3):351–358
Uchimura T, Towhata I, Wang L, Nishie S, Yamaguchi H, Seko I, Qiao J (2015) Precaution and early warning of surface failure of slopes using tilt sensors. Soils Found 55(5):1086–1099
Yin Y, Zheng W, Liu Y, Zhang J, Li X (2010) Integration of GPS with InSAR to monitoring of the Jiaju landslide in Sichuan, China. Landslides 7(3):359–365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-010-0225-9
Acknowledgements
The authors are extremely grateful to Department of Science & Technology (DST), New Delhi, for funding the research project Grant No. (NRDMS/02/31/015(G)). We are also thankful to Dr. L. Wang, Chuo Kaihatsu Corporation, Japan, for technical expertise, and Mr. Yeshu Sharma, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, for GIS expertise.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dikshit, A., Satyam, D.N. & Towhata, I. Early warning system using tilt sensors in Chibo, Kalimpong, Darjeeling Himalayas, India. Nat Hazards 94, 727–741 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3417-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3417-6