G. Kishan Reddy today inaugurated the National Landslide Forecasting Centre at GSI, Dharitri Campus, Salt Lake City, Kolkata. Minister also launched the Bhusanket Web Portal and Bhooskhalan Mobile App. The programme was graced by dignitaries from various disaster management agencies and stakeholder organizations besides Director General, GSI, Shri Janardan Prasad, and other senior officials of the organisation.
The NLFC is a pioneering initiative aimed at landslide hazard mitigation in India. Soon after this inauguration, residents of Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Nilgiri districts will be benefitted from live forecasting report to be shared with them since 20th July 2024. It will in due course issue early warning bulletins for all landslide-prone states, operationalizing the regional Landslide Early Warning System (LEWS) nationwide by 2030. Equipped with advanced technology, the NLFC will provide early information to local administration and communities, update landslide inventories, and integrate real-time rainfall and slope instability data for enhanced forecasting accuracy.
The launch of the Bhusanket Web Portal marks a major step towards disaster risk reduction. This web portal will facilitate the dissemination of relevant data and information on landslide hazards, initiating short-range and medium-range landslide forecasting in the country. Integrated with the Bhusanket Web Portal, the user-friendly Bhooskhalan Mobile App will enable quick dissemination of daily landslide forecasts and allow stakeholders to share and update spatial and temporal information on landslide occurrences. The app is available on Bhusanket web portal and will soon be available on Google Play Store.