The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
July 29 was a black day for those residents of the old Tehri town who had decided to remain back. At around 2 pm, the water in the lake surrounding the almost empty town rose and entered their homes. The 20 or so families left had to run for their …
The Tehri dam project has always been embroiled in controversies. The initial protests against the dam started in the late 1960s when surveys were conducted at the dam site. An organised movement took shape after the Planning Commission gave its nod to the dam in 1972. In the 1980s and …
Rubble from the landslide that occurred 10 months ago on the Varunavat mountain in Uttarkashi threatens to swamp the town during this monsoon. Debris on the slope of the crumbling Varunavat mountain. Uttarkashi town is seen at the foothills. IN the first week of July, the worst fears of the …
On the night of September 24, residents of Uttarkashi in the Garhwal Himalayas were jolted by rumblings of rocks and boulders hurtling down the Varunavat parvat (hillock). Landslides have ravaged this ancient pilgrimage town ever since. Many buildings including high-rise hotels and houses have come under a steady stream of …
At least 274 people were killed and 2,937 injured when an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale shook El Salvador on February 13, 2001. The epicentre of the earthquake was 20 kilometres from San Salvador, El Salvador's capital city. Salvador's National Emergency Committee reported that the quake triggered 25 …
massive flash floods in the Sutlej river have left a trail of destruction in the Shimla, Kullu, Mandi and Kinnaur districts of Himachal Pradesh. At least 150 people are reported to have been killed and several crore of rupees worth of property damaged in what is being seen as the …
at least 90 people were killed in a landslide that crushed an entire slum in Mumbai. The Azad Nagar slum in Ghatkopar was located at the foot of a hillock, which collapsed due to heavy rainfall sending down a mass of mud on about 100 houses. More than 150 firebrigade …
the Himalaya mountains are among the youngest ranges in the world - its formation having begun only around 100 million years ago and still continuing. The range was formed by the collision of the Indian and Tibetan plates which lie below the Earth's surface and are continuously moving. With the …
Around 770,000 people in Ziyang in China's Hunan province were evacuated by rescuers after the Minzu Yuan dyke collapsed following heavy rains that lashed the area on July 23. "However, no casualties have been reported so far,' an official with the Ziyang district's civil affairs bureau said. Floods are a …
floods in northern India have claimed more than 321 lives in the past month. The situation is particularly alarming in Bihar where the toll has crossed 193, and property worth crores has been destroyed. The major rivers in the state like the Kosi, Bagmati, Kamala Balan, Punpun and Gandak have …
On august 4, 1985, a moraine-dammed glacial lake, Dig Tsho, burst in the Khumbu Himal area of Nepal. Within four to six hours, the lake had emptied into Lagmoche valley, one of the tributary valleys of the river Bhote Kosi, which flows along many Sherpa settlements. For more than 90 …
Glaciers , the huge and seemingly sedate rivers of ice, are the source of life and, ironically, death too. These masses not only add to the serene and pristine beauty of the higher reaches of the Himalaya, they are also the source of north Indian rivers. Thus, with global warming …
B etween 40 and 50 million years ago, the Indian subcontinent collided with the rest of the Asian landmass. This collision caused the Earth's crust to buckle and rise forming the Himalaya. The uplift of the Himalaya was a gradual process over a long period. As the elevation of the …
There seems to be no reprieve from a natural disasters this year. The latest culprit is the Typhoon Babs, which caused havoc in the Philippines leaving behind at least 124 dead and forcing thousands to flee their homes. President Joseph Estrada declared three provinces on the southern tip of Luzon …
RAMPANT deforestation by the timber mafia, poor mapping systems and inadequate maintenance of roads in the region may be the reason for recent landslides in the hills of Uttar Pradesh. People familiar with the region's ecology say that landslides are the result of years of indiscriminate deforestation in the Himalaya. …
Landslides have been taking place in the Himalaya mountains since time immemorial. In 1893, a landslide blocked the Birahiganga in Uttar Pradesh, forming a 350 m-high dam creating the vast Gohana lake. When a part of the dam toppled 10 months later, the levef of the Alaknanda rose by SO …
TAMPERING with the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayan region has once again triggered off a disaster in the hills of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Tragedy struck Malpa, a tiny village in the Pithoragarh district, near the Indo-China border on August 18. A five metre high avalanche of rock and water wiped …
a crack on a mountainface forming part of the reservoir of the controversial Tehri dam in Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh, has once again cleaved expert opinion on the Himalayan dam's safety. An l -shaped crack has appeared on the rocky surface above one of the tunnels leading to the dam's power …
geographic Information Systems ( gis ), a computer software for mapping geographical data for civic and environmental planning, is now being used in Sikkim and Darjeeling for landslide management and mitigation. One of the major problems in mitigating a disaster is the lack of warning. The advantage of having a …
The Himalayan mountains constitute an ecological system naturally primed for disaster. The deep gorges through which the Himalayan rivers flow convey the impression that the Himalayan valleys would never face floods. Yet these very channels often fail to contain the fury of disastrous floods. Among the most affected valleys are …
