This summer’s flash floods spread across the Himalayas –in India, Pakistan and Nepal – have underscored the urgent need to install early warning systems
Scientists have been warning that the frequency of floods, droughts and storms will go up due to climate change. The large number of flash floods across the Hindu Kush Himalayas this summer appears to be proving their point. So how should policymakers respond right now?
Experts and activists gathered at a recent workshop held in New Delhi to discuss the worst of this year’s flash floods – in Uttarakhand – stressed the need to urgently install early warning systems so that people could get out of the way. The workshop was organised by the Times of India media group.
The experts pointed out that the entire Himalayan belt in India is prone to such disasters, especially since the weather has started behaving quite erratically. “The disaster in Uttarakhand was caused by floods. Did we have early warning systems? No we didn’t have,” said Vijay Kumar, operations manager of Danish Hydraulics Institute. He added that the losses could have been minimised if there was a warning system in place.
http://www.thethirdpole.net/himalayas-needs-many-disaster-warning-systems/
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