TY - JOUR

T1 - Recommendations for Landslide Early Warning Systems in Informal Settlements Based on a Case Study in Medellín, Colombia

AU - Gamperl, Moritz

AU - Singer, John

AU - Garcia-Londoño, Carolina

AU - Seiler, Lisa

AU - Castañeda, Julián

AU - Cerón-Hernandez, David

AU - Thuro, Kurosch

N1 - Funding Information: This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, grant number 03G0883A-F. We thank Fretzdorff and Putbrese from Project Management Jülich for their support and guidance.

PY - 2023/7/20

Y1 - 2023/7/20

N2 - Fatalities from landslides are rising worldwide, especially in cities in mountainous regions, which often expand into the steep slopes surrounding them. For residents, often those living in poor neighborhoods and informal settlements, integrated landslide early warning systems (LEWS) can be a viable solution, if they are affordable and easily replicable. We developed a LEWS in Medellín, Colombia, which can be applied in such semi-urban situations. All the components of the LEWS, from hazard and risk assessment, to the monitoring system and the reaction capacity, were developed with and supported by all local stakeholders, including local authorities, agencies, NGO’s, and especially the local community, in order to build trust. It was well integrated into the social structure of the neighborhood, while still delivering precise and dense deformation and trigger measurements. A prototype was built and installed in a neighborhood in Medellín in 2022, comprising a dense network of line and point measurements and gateways. The first data from the measurement system are now available and allow us to define initial thresholds, while more data are being collected to allow for automatic early warning in the future. All the newly developed knowledge, from sensor hardware and software to installation manuals, has been compiled on a wiki-page, to facilitate replication by people in other parts of the world. According to our experience of the installation, we give recommendations for the implementation of LEWSs in similar areas, which can hopefully stimulate a lively exchange between researchers and other stakeholders who want to use, modify, and replicate our system.

AB - Fatalities from landslides are rising worldwide, especially in cities in mountainous regions, which often expand into the steep slopes surrounding them. For residents, often those living in poor neighborhoods and informal settlements, integrated landslide early warning systems (LEWS) can be a viable solution, if they are affordable and easily replicable. We developed a LEWS in Medellín, Colombia, which can be applied in such semi-urban situations. All the components of the LEWS, from hazard and risk assessment, to the monitoring system and the reaction capacity, were developed with and supported by all local stakeholders, including local authorities, agencies, NGO’s, and especially the local community, in order to build trust. It was well integrated into the social structure of the neighborhood, while still delivering precise and dense deformation and trigger measurements. A prototype was built and installed in a neighborhood in Medellín in 2022, comprising a dense network of line and point measurements and gateways. The first data from the measurement system are now available and allow us to define initial thresholds, while more data are being collected to allow for automatic early warning in the future. All the newly developed knowledge, from sensor hardware and software to installation manuals, has been compiled on a wiki-page, to facilitate replication by people in other parts of the world. According to our experience of the installation, we give recommendations for the implementation of LEWSs in similar areas, which can hopefully stimulate a lively exchange between researchers and other stakeholders who want to use, modify, and replicate our system.

KW - Colombia

KW - informal settlement

KW - landslide early warning system

KW - low-cost monitoring

KW - Medellín

KW - socially integrated

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166231802&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/land12071451

DO - 10.3390/land12071451

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85166231802

VL - 12

JO - Land

JF - Land

IS - 7

M1 - 1451

ER -