REMOVE (aRtificial rockslidE MOVEment)

The frequency-magnitude of natural disasters taking place each year is skyrocketing! Among natural disasters, those related to mass movement are of high importance, i.e., landslide, and rock slide. The hazards mentioned above recently lead to increase human and property lost in many countries. The impact of these disasters can affect residential areas, transportation systems, and the pipeline networks badly. Thus, there is a need to reduce the risk of these land failure related disasters.

ReMove proposes a novel idea in order to reduce the land-failure related disasters. The idea is to create a tool (involving the knowledge of physics, electrical engineering, and Earth-system analysis) to produce an artificial land failure i.e., rock slide before the actual land failure takes place. This can be done by taking advantage of the resonance in physics. Waves at the same natural frequency of a sliding rock/land can be produced in a controlled manner, while the tool is mounted in a UAV which safely flies over the hazard-prone area at the right time. The timing of the project can be determined by the Earth scientists at ITC. Doing so, we can produce artificial landslide/rockslide/avalanches in a controlled situation where there is neither exposure nor element at risk (i.e., human property) exists.