Technical Talk on Geospatial Technology driven Disaster Management

Since 2018, our department has had the honour of a formal association with the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC). KSREC was established in 1995 by the Government of Kerala Under the aegis of National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS). KSREC is an autonomous body under Department of Planning & Economic Affairs for carrying out research, training, awareness programmes and other related activities in the field of application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Land and Water Resources management, environmental monitoring and upkeep. The department has undertaken several projects and hosted workshops and events over the years under this MoU.

On 6th August, a technical talk on the topic “Geospatial Technology driven Disaster Management" was conducted in our seminar hall. Dr. Suresh Francis, Senior Scientist at KSREC was the resource person. Dr. Suresh has more than 25 years of experience in applied research and remote sensing-based environmental studies. He is currently a Member of several State level Advisory Committees and Steering committees in the geospatial arena. His session was very detailed and touched upon many practical applications of geo spatial technologies and its impact on society, governance and disaster management. Nearly 120 students from S5 and S7 attended the session. The talk was very much informative, the rich content he shared during the talk is captured below.

Dr. Suresh started his talk by giving examples of how location information is being used in various situations through common examples of uber, swiggy where location information is used to offer various services. Through a story telling manner he discussed how google knows well about a person than a person himself with the location data provided by the person through different apps like smart watches, smart phones etc.

Further he discussed how Geospatial technology being the fourth industrial revolution has now been emerging as a powerful tool for analysing various aspects of disaster management. Disasters, both natural and man-made, are an inescapable part of our environment. In a country like India where 57% of the land is earthquake-prone, 68% is drought-prone, and large parts are vulnerable to floods, cyclones, and landslides, the need for precise, scalable, and real-time disaster management solutions is more critical than ever. This is where geospatial technologies like Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) come into play.Effective disaster management must encompass planning, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery all of which can be significantly enhanced with geospatial intelligence.

He discussed the applications of remote sensing in the fields of Multi-hazard Zonation at cadastral levels, Monitoring Seismic Activity using epicentre mapping, Flood & Cyclone Hazard Analysis, Landslide Susceptibility Zonation using Machine Learning. He showed case studies on how Machine learning models such as Logistic Regression,Support Vector Machine (SVM),Decision Trees,Random Forest, XGBoost can be used to map and predict landslide susceptibility in Kerala. With special reference to landslides he has discussed the ongoing works carried out by Kerala state such as Soil Piping and Land Displacement Monitoring (LDM) where soil piping often precedes landslides. ALOS SAR data and Differential Split-band Interferogram method were used to determine Subsidence rate which was ranging from 1 mm to 78 mm across 5 major zones in Kerala. He discussed about the upcoming Indian satellite mission to be launched, NISAR (NASA‑ISRO), which will provide high-frequency SAR data for global hazard mapping including landslides and subsidence.

He pinpointed how the paddy areas were encroached by buildings over the years which is to be the fundamental reason for flooding in Kerala with help of satellite images. By overlaying layers such as Land use, Building footprints, lithology, roads, canals, and water bodies planners can perform query analysis, identify valley fills, and model flood scenarios more accurately. This integrated geospatial approach helps mitigate losses and enables smarter disaster response.

An initiative by KSREC, features of GRAMAM (Grassroot Level Mapping and Monitoring System) was demonstrated. It is a pioneering participatory mapping initiative that empowers local communities through conduction of Land Surveys: (Plot boundaries, land use, cadastral overlays), Water Surveys: (Well inventory (20.5 lakh wells), rivers, and water bodies), Infrastructure Mapping (Roads, culverts, power lines, and drainage), Recreational & Utility Mapping (Schools, sports grounds, and power utilities) and Challenge & Damage Mapping: Natural and man-made threats, post-disaster loss estimation.Over 5,000 volunteers were employed for mapping 1.57 lakh km of local roads.

Dr. Suresh concluded his talk by explaining how the convergence of AI, remote sensing, and participatory GIS is revolutionising to plan, and respond to disasters. With projects like LDM and GRAMAM, Kerala is setting an example for data-driven resilience.From landslide susceptibility mapping to flood response, and real-time InSAR monitoring to community-led data collection, geospatial technology is transforming disaster management across Kerala and India. As climate risks escalate, these tools - and community participation - will be vital not just to survive, but to adapt and thrive.

The session concluded with a group photo and a student activity. In this activity, students were asked to map the college ground using the “Area of Interest” application developed by KSREC. The first three students to submit their work were rewarded with food coupons!!

---

Ms. Abhiya Abbas Mundol, AP, CE