Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Partners with Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority to Strengthen Community Resilience in the Eastern Himalayas

Gangtok, Sikkim, May 10, 2025
In a strategic move to enhance disaster preparedness and community resilience in one of India’s most environmentally vulnerable regions, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA). The MoU marks the continuation of a comprehensive collaboration focused on disaster risk reduction, climate resilience, and sustainable community development in the Eastern Himalayas.
The MoU was signed on May 10, 2025, by Shri Prabhakar Rai, Director of the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) and Dr. Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh, Provost, Director, Amrita WNA. The partnership is on behalf of the Amrita School for Sustainable Futures (ASF), the Amrita Centre for Wireless Networks and Applications (Amrita WNA), and the UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development.
As part of the MoU, Amrita will support SSDMA in rolling out large-scale capacity-building programs, field-based awareness campaigns, and grassroots resilience initiatives. The university will deploy digital platforms, multilingual educational tools, and advanced wireless sensor networks to strengthen early warning systems and real-time disaster communication in remote regions. Together with SSDMA, Amrita will work on co-developing sustainable, inclusive, and community-driven strategies for managing natural disasters. This is an essential effort in Sikkim, which faces frequent risks from earthquakes, landslides, and flash floods.
The MoU signing ceremony was attended by key officials from the Government of Sikkim, including Mr. M.T. Sherpa, IAS, Relief Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Shri Prabhakar Rai, Director of SSDMA, Shri Rajiv Roka, Additional Director of SSDMA, and Mr. Keshav Koirala, Training Officer at SSDMA. Delegates from Amrita included Mr. Ranjith Mohan, Program Manager for Live-in-Labs®, Mr. Nitin M, Project Manager at WNA, Mr. Amritesh, Research Associate, Ms. Hari Chandana, Research Associate, Ms. Reshma AS, Research Associate, and Mr. Bichu, Field Associate at WNA.
“This partnership is the culmination of more than a decade of collaboration and mutual trust in Sikkim,” said Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh, Provost of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. “Since 2013, Amrita has been actively working on landslide early warning systems in Chandmari, Gangtok, deploying over 50 sensors to monitor dynamic risk patterns. Using AI-based models, the system provides early warnings first at the community level, followed by alerts to government and research institutions. In collaboration with SSDMA, Amrita has helped build community resilience and advance regional warning capabilities. Students now work on multi-hazard frameworks in Sikkim, exploring interactions between floods and landslides, structural impacts, and catchment-scale systems. This deep engagement has led to an MoU with the Sikkim government to further disaster preparedness and research.”
“This collaboration marks an important step in strengthening disaster preparedness and resilience in the state”. said Shri Prabhakar Rai, Director, SSDMA. “We are deeply grateful to Amrita University for their dedicated work in monitoring and assessing the Chandmari landslide, an area that has posed a serious risk since 1987. Their efforts in collecting critical data and installing monitoring systems at ten key locations have been instrumental in our ongoing disaster risk management. Amrita’s timely updates and scientific insights have supported SSDMA’s mission, and their commitment goes beyond landslides. Their proposed studies on flash floods and other vulnerabilities reflect a holistic approach to disaster risk reduction in Sikkim. We sincerely thank Amrita University for initiating this partnership and look forward to a continued, impactful collaboration in the years to come.”
Building on Amrita’s ongoing work in the region, the partnership strengthens efforts to mitigate disaster risks. In 2015, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, in collaboration with the Government of India, developed and deployed an advanced AI-enabled Iot system for the detection and early warning of landslides for the geologically active Sikkim Himalayan region, which is highly susceptible to rainfall-induced landslides. Co-funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, this system uses over 200 sensors to monitor geophysical and hydrological parameters like rainfall, soil moisture, and seismic activity. Real-time data is collected and analysed at the Field Management Centre (FMC), then sent to the Data Management Centre (DMC) at Amrita for further analysis.
In collaboration with grassroots stakeholders, Amrita has conducted training programs for youth, school children and teachers on disaster resilience, sustainable development and energy literacy. Additionally, the organisation has developed inclusive digital learning modules in local languages to raise awareness about disaster preparedness. Through these initiatives, Amrita has reached hundreds of community members, youth volunteers, and local leaders, creating a replicable model of technology-enabled, community-driven resilience.