An AMI associated mudslide warning system

Taiwan, as indicated by a report, Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis, is one of the most dangerous places on earth. Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) also points out that the frequency of disasters appears to be increasing. An NASA study shows that global warming upwards the formation of high clouds in tropics. This situation brings much severe storms and rainfalls. Just like a prophecy, on August 8th 2009, Typhoon Morakot hit southern Taiwan. Hundreds of lives were lost in the mudslide triggered by Morakot. To prevent such a tragedy happening again, a smarter mudslide warning system is desperately needed. This paper proposes a novel low-cost approach that composes low-cost sensors, AMI communication network, locatable identities of electricity poles, and a potential debris flow database to form a mudslide detection and warning system. This paper also compares the proposed design with an existing system in Taiwan.