Thursday August 30, 2012

Four research sites identified for landslide and flood early warning

GEORGE TOWN: Four places in Malaysia have been identified as research sites for an early geohazard warning system for landslides and floods.

University Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Computer Science associate professor Dr Chan Huah Yong said sensors would be placed at hillslopes in Jeli, Kelantan, and Kenyir in Terengganu, the Kelantan river basin and along the East-West Highway to monitor earth movement and floods.

“The data collected will be disseminated to the relevant government agencies so that a geohazard early warning system can be developed,” he said.

He said USM was given a RM13mil project grant, which came mostly from the Japanese government, adding that the “Research and Development for Reducing Geo-Hazard Damage in Malaysia Caused by Landslide and Flood” project, which started in June last year, was expected to be completed in June 2016.

The project is a collaboration between USM, Multimedia University, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Chiba University, University of Tokyo, Kyushu University, Kyoto University, the National Institute of Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Vision Tech Inc and International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management.

Universiti Tenaga Nasional research and postgraduate studies deputy dean Dr Norashidah Md Din said the project team had identified two hillslopes in Jeli and Kenyir that are believed to have geological faults.

“The research site for floods is the Kelantan river basin which covers an area of 15,000 sq m.”

National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention senior researcher Yuichiro Usuda said such an early warning system has been in operation in Japan for the past seven years.

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