Researchers flag critical gaps in Wayanad's disaster warning system
Examining the 2024 Chooralmala-Mundakkai landslide, the researchers have sought a thorough rethink of disaster resilience strategies in view of climate uncertainties.
The report, titled "Wayanad Landslides 2024: Early Warning System - Changing the Last Mile to the First Mile", followed collaborative field investigation in Jan 2025 and interviews with local communities and stakeholders at different intervals.
It offers insights into the vulnerabilities of Kerala's fragile hill ecosystems and calls for embedding community participation at the core of resilience-building and policy design.
On the technological front, the report says the current EWS infrastructure in Wayanad lacks real-time data collection, predictive accuracy and effective last-mile dissemination. "Despite isolated initiatives like IoT-based sensor networks, systemic gaps remain in coverage scalability and integration," it says.
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Flagging institutional disconnects, it says the existing governance model, though robust on paper, falters in coordinating local bodies, technological agencies and community actors. It notes that bureaucratic delays, fragmented responsibilities and lack of localized protocols hamper swift action.
It highlights the need for enhanced community engagement, while noting that early warnings often fail to translate into community action.
It calls for a paradigm shift - from viewing early warning as a technological end-point to embedding it within the social fabric of vulnerable communities. It advocates repositioning the "last mile" of communication as the "first mile" of resilience-building.
It suggests that schools can be made its local hubs, with teachers as ambassadors and students as information carriers. "The approach calls for integrating traditional knowledge, localized risk mapping, participatory drills and strengthening institutional protocols at the grama panchayat level," the report says.
It recommends fast-tracking the installation of X-Band Doppler weather radars and low-cost IoT sensor networks in Wayanad, along with the mandatory inclusion of disaster preparedness modules in school curricula. The other recommendations include establishing "early warning focal points" in every ward; integrating local volunteers, educators and administrative personnel; and recalibration of state-wide disaster management policies to emphasize hyperlocal, community-led action.
Developing an "all-hazard early warning system"" (AHEWS) that integrates rainfall thresholds, soil moisture data, terrain mapping and real-time landslide monitoring technologies; and localized risk mapping and zonation and updating landslide susceptibility and hazard zonation maps using high-resolution remote sensing and geospatial data have also been recommended. "These should be made available to local authorities and the public for informed planning and response," it says.
The report also calls for alerts through loudspeakers, community radio, mobile-based messages and SMS services in local languages; capacity building and culturally sensitive community engagement through school-based disaster education; active involvement of panchayat raj institutions, self-help groups and tribal communities.
There should be stronger coordination among the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Geological Survey of India (GSI), Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and district-level authorities, it says.
On the infrastructure front, it recommends installing automated rain gauges, geotechnical sensors and slope movement detectors in high-risk zones and encouraging the use of AI and machine learning for predictive modelling and anomaly detection.
The researchers were from India-Japan Centre on Climate and Culture at IIM-K, Centre for Climate Resilience and Disaster Management at NIT-C, Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas at IIT-Bombay and India Japan Laboratory (IJL) at Keio University. The field visits were led by Prof Rajib Shaw of IJL.
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