Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1354060
Preventing landslides In Taiwan, landslides have begun to occur more frequently, oen killing or isolating hundreds of villagers each season. Unchecked, agricultural changes to the natural environment have increased soil erosion, a contributing factor to landslides. Our partner, RiChi Technologies, is helping the Taiwanese government understand and reduce these geological risks. There are two critical factors that increase the risk of landslides across the mountainous terrain of Taiwan: rain fall and hill cultivation. In Taiwan, large and lucrative betel nut plantations are contributing to hillside soil erosion and frequent landslides. While the Taiwanese government can't prevent rain, it is trying to restore its natural forests and reduce the size and impact of these plantations with a farming subsidy, but they needed a geospatial partner capable of monitoring large areas in detail to successfully manage it. RiChi had the advanced technology to conduct a scalable survey and determine land use/land cover (LULC) for the government but its algorithm required very high quality data to detect variations in the vegetation. Maxar's global and high-resolution satellite imagery helped RiChi deliver actionable results. Detecting risks at scale AI-DRIVEN VEGETATION ANALYSIS WORLDVIEW-3 SATELLITE IMAGERY info@maxar.com maxar.com Problems, profits and rain Typhoon season runs from June through October, bringing intense rainfall to the island. In 2009, Typhoon Morakot (the season's 8th storm and 4th Typhoon) went down in history as the country's deadliest storm with a record-breaking 2,777 mm of rain, a death toll of 673, and estimated infrastructure damages of NT$110 billion. case study Betel nuts tree in WorldView-3 satellite image | Location, Taiwan Betel nuts are the fruits of areca-palm trees and a highly-addictive stimulant. Farmers can make up to NT$300,000 per hectare of areca-palm, which is a tough incentive to beat.