UMM Students Create Landslide Disaster Mitigation Tool

UMM students who succeeded in creating disaster mitigation tools. (Photo: Istimewah)

The potential for natural disasters that occur in Indonesia is quite significant. One of the natural disasters that often occurs is landslides. It was recorded that throughout 2021 there were 218 cases of landslides that occurred in Indonesia. The University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) student team developed a landslide early warning system based on the Internet of Things via Telegram messages to reduce victims due to the disaster.

One of the team members, Retno Diajeng Putri, said that this system is developing the existing system in Indonesia. Retno continued, although landslides often occur in Indonesia, the system designed by the government is still based on Short Message Service (SMS). The delivery of this warning is hampered because people have moved from SMS to an internet-based messaging application.

"Because they no longer use SMS to send messages, sometimes people don't know if there is a landslide warning notification. For this reason, we use the Internet of Things (IoT) system to send landslide warnings to the public via the Telegram Bot," said the Electrical Engineering student.

Retno explained that they embed two sensors in their tools to detect landslides, namely humidity and ultrasonic sensors. Both sensors can detect soil shift, soil moisture, and rainfall intensity in an area. The data from the two sensors will be processed on the raspberry pi model B+ and will generate four warnings, namely safe and alert.

"Telegram was chosen as the application for sending disaster warnings because it is fastest of sending data than other applicators. The information delivery system of this tool to the ic will be through an invitation in the Telegram application. So the use of this tool is only limited to areas prone to landslides," explained Retno.

Currently, Retno and her team have completed the construction of the landslide detection tool. But in the future, there will be some adjustments and evaluations after testing. Apart from Retno, this team consists of Ade Musthafa Alwi and Devi Krista Ferani. This tool has been included in the Student Creativity Program-Karsa Cipta (PKM-KC) and passed by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud).

"I certainly hope that this tool can help better mitigate landslides in Indonesia. In addition, it is also able to reduce the number of victims," ​​she concluded (haq/wil)