Title: Glacial Flood Warning System in India Fails to Prevent Deadly Disaster in Sikkim
Date: October 6, 2023
Location: New Delhi, India
Authorities and scientists were developing an early warning system for glacial floods at Lhonak Lake in northeast India, but it failed to prevent a devastating disaster that resulted in the loss of at least 40 lives and left dozens missing in Sikkim state. The floods, triggered by heavy rain and an avalanche, caused chaos in the mountainous region and were among the worst disasters in the area in 50 years.
The initial part of the warning system, consisting of a camera to monitor the lake’s level and weather instruments, was recently installed. If fully operational, this system could have provided crucial time for evacuation. However, the camera lost power in late September, and the Swiss embassy, which supported the project, cited an unknown reason for the power failure.
Geoscientist Simon Allen from the University of Zurich, who was involved in the project, expressed frustration, stating, “It’s quite absurd, really. The fact that it happened just two weeks after our team was there was completely bad luck.” The team had plans to add a tripwire sensor that would activate an alert system, warning residents to evacuate to higher ground in case the lake was about to burst.
While glacial flood early warning systems have been successfully deployed in China, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bhutan in recent years, the Lhonak Lake and nearby Shako Cho in Sikkim were intended to be among the first in India. However, delays in design and difficulties in securing funding hampered progress.
As climate change continues to affect high mountain regions, communities in the Himalayas face the increasing threat of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Research from 2022 indicates that more than 200 such lakes pose a high hazard to these communities in India, Pakistan, China, Nepal, and Bhutan.
India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) plans to implement early warning systems in several other glacial lakes. However, Farooq Azam, a glaciologist at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, noted that the benefits of such systems may be limited due to the rapid nature of these events. “Such kind of events are so fast that even if we have some kind of early warning system … we may only gain some minutes, maybe an hour,” he explained.
The recent tragedy in Sikkim highlights the urgent need for effective early warning systems and comprehensive disaster preparedness measures to protect vulnerable communities in the face of climate change.