Govt launches programme to tackle glacial lake outburst flood threat in Himalayas, all 190 high-risk lakes to be monitored

NEW DELHI: The glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Sikkim, which occurred in Oct 2023 and claimed 14 lives, has highlighted the vulnerability of the entire Himalayan region to such catastrophic events. This tragedy prompted the Centre to launch a comprehensive national GLOF risk mitigation programme, targeting 190 high-risk glacial lakes across four states and two Union Territories.The Kedarnath disaster of 2013 had brought some awareness to the dangers posed by GLOFs, but the recent disasters call for greater preparedness.
The programme, led by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), aims to conduct detailed technical hazard assessments of all high-risk glacial lakes and install automated weather and water level monitoring stations (AWWS) and early warning systems (EWS) at these lakes and in downstream areas.
A GLOF is a type of flood that occurs when water dammed by a glacier or moraine is suddenly released. Such outbursts have the potential to release millions of cubic metres of water in a short period, causing catastrophic flooding in downstream areas with human settlements and critical infrastructure. Climate change has given rise to the formation of numerous such lakes.
“GLOF risk reduction is a very challenging, long-term task. With altered frequency, duration and intensity (FDI) of heat and precipitation, GLOFs could soon be India’s most challenging natural hazard,” Safi Ahsan Rizvi, NDMA advisor (mitigation), told TOI.
Serving IPS officer, Rizvi, underlined the NDMA’s coordinating mechanism, CoDRR (committee on disaster risk reduction), to bring all states and central scientific institutions on a single platform to implement the ambitious programme, amplifying the “whole of govt” approach.
The Rs 150 crore programme, approved in July, is part of the overall Rs 12,554 crore that has been approved by the Centre for urban flood management, firefighting services and other disaster mitigation efforts for states/UTs.
Though there are 7,500 glacial lakes in the Himalayan region, covering Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, NDMA has identified 190 of them as ‘high-risk’. The highest 48 of them are located in Himachal Pradesh, followed by 40 in Sikkim, 35 in Ladakh, 28 in Arunachal Pradesh, 26 in J&K and 13 in Uttarakhand.
As part of the programme, all central and state agencies, including scientific institutions, Indian Army and ITBP, have been conducting expeditions to the high-risk lakes, assessing structural stability and potential breach points of glacial lakes.
Meanwhile, the ministry of electronics & IT has launched a grand challenge to encourage the development of innovative and sustainable indigenous solutions for GLOF, leveraging advanced technologies including AI, drone tech and satellite IoT for glacial lake survey, predictive analytics and lake volume calculator.
“The idea is to come out with solutions that may more effectively monitor, analyse, predict and mitigate the risks associated with GLOFs,” said an official.