<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" >

	<channel>
		<title>Mongabay India</title>
		<atom:link href="https://india.mongabay.com/feed/?s=&#038;type=post&#038;topic=glacial-lake-outburst-flood" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://india.mongabay.com/list/glacial-lake-outburst-flood/</link>
		<description>India&#039;s environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 09 Oct 2026 06:31:30 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
		<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3</generator>
				<item>
					<title>Nepal&#8217;s flood claim tests whether a nascent climate fund can deliver</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-claim-tests-whether-a-young-climate-fund-can-deliver/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-claim-tests-whether-a-young-climate-fund-can-deliver/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Sep 2026 15:25:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hindu Kush Himalaya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Loss and damage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Loss and damage fund]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/14125738/AP26251387871560-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40892</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Nepal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Extreme Weather Events, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, and Impacts of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 1,386 people have died and over 5,130 more missing, as of September 12, following the August 26 floods in Nepal. In the wreckage along the Bhote Koshi river lie two unresolved questions: Is climate change linked to the disaster? And, can a nascent global fund, built to help vulnerable countries in such crises, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 1,386 people have died and over 5,130 more missing, as of September 12, following the August 26 floods in Nepal. In the wreckage along the Bhote Koshi river lie two unresolved questions: Is climate change linked to the disaster? And, can a nascent global fund, built to help vulnerable countries in such crises, actually deliver? Soon after the floods, the Government of Nepal wrote a letter to the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), a financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established in 2022 to help vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters. In the letter signed by the country’s Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Minister for Agriculture, Forest and Environment Gita Chaudhary, Nepal requested the board to take a special decision to respond rapidly, directly and effectively. Signed on August 31, the letter emphasised that a prompt response would “demonstrate that the Fund can translate international solidarity into timely support for vulnerable countries and communities when it is most urgently needed.” Nepal contributes roughly 0.027% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The mountainous country is in the &#8216;least developed country&#8217; category designated by the UN and is a highly climate-vulnerable country that &#8220;continues to bear disproportionate and escalating climate impacts,&#8221; the letter states. It argues that the Bhote Koshi disaster demonstrates how extreme events in the cryosphere can rapidly cascade and compound from high mountains to densely populated downstream areas, affecting water, food, energy, health, infrastructure and ecosystems. Though&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-claim-tests-whether-a-young-climate-fund-can-deliver/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-claim-tests-whether-a-young-climate-fund-can-deliver/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal’s flood disaster puts its hydropower-first strategy, exports to the test</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-disaster-puts-its-hydropower-first-strategy-exports-to-the-test/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-disaster-puts-its-hydropower-first-strategy-exports-to-the-test/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 15:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rudra Pangeni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flash flood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nepal]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/10141820/nepal-flood-2026-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40837</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Himalayas, and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Dams, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Global Warming, Himalayas, Hydroelectric power, Impacts of Climate Change, Mountains, Natural Resources, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nepal’s long-held policy of harnessing hydroelectricity and using it for economic growth has met new challenges: potential catastrophic floods in the snow-fed rivers amid rising global temperatures. The August 26 floods that originated on the Nepal-China border, and that knocked out around 10% of installed power from the national grid, has prompted a debate on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nepal’s long-held policy of harnessing hydroelectricity and using it for economic growth has met new challenges: potential catastrophic floods in the snow-fed rivers amid rising global temperatures. The August 26 floods that originated on the Nepal-China border, and that knocked out around 10% of installed power from the national grid, has prompted a debate on whether Nepal should rethink its overall hydropower strategy or just adopt better-engineered plants. Amid this, the flood could jeopardise the country’s clean energy targets and push it to adopt more solar power. Immediate impacts The recent flash flood crippled a combined installed generation capacity of 281 megawatts, including a solar power plant, and damaged four other under-construction projects, totaling a capacity of 700 MW. One of the oldest hydroelectric plants, the 14.1-MW Devighat Hydroelectric Plant, commissioned 42 years ago, was wiped out. Further downstream, the flood badly damaged a 25-MW solar power plant, according to data compiled by Mongabay from official sources. Similarly, with a hub of a transmission line washed away on the Trishuli river’s banks, another 150 MW of power from different power plants is cut off from the national grid system. Transmission lines, including a substation on the Trishuli riverbank, were also destroyed. While officials are assessing the damage, estimates put losses at hundreds of billions of Nepali rupees, according to media reports. They say they can’t yet provide timelines for when the affected projects will resume generation. Around 983 engineers and workers are feared trapped inside the tunnels or power houses&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-disaster-puts-its-hydropower-first-strategy-exports-to-the-test/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-flood-disaster-puts-its-hydropower-first-strategy-exports-to-the-test/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why is disaster risk increasing in the Himalayas? [Explainer]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-disaster-risk-increasing-in-the-himalayas-explainer/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-disaster-risk-increasing-in-the-himalayas-explainer/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 13:49:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Max Martin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hindu Kush Himalaya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[natural disaster]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/09/08111108/AP26250291785391-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=40769</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Climate Science, Environment, Extreme Weather Events, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Himalayas, Human Rights, Impacts of Climate Change, and Mountains]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a warming world, rising temperatures in high mountain regions are driving glacier retreat and melting, contributing to an increase in the number and area of glacial lakes. As glaciers retreat, they can create new lakes or expand old ones, sometimes contained by natural dams made of ice or moraines — ridges of rock, sediment [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a warming world, rising temperatures in high mountain regions are driving glacier retreat and melting, contributing to an increase in the number and area of glacial lakes. As glaciers retreat, they can create new lakes or expand old ones, sometimes contained by natural dams made of ice or moraines — ridges of rock, sediment and debris left behind by glaciers. If these dams fail, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) can release huge volumes of water and debris, severely flooding downstream communities and infrastructure. In some cases, GLOFs involve rockfalls or the collapse of entire mountain slopes with cascading impacts. Or there can be avalanches — massive, rapid downhill flows of rocks, ice and snow. Scientists have improved glacier and lake monitoring in the Himalayan region, but large gaps remain in data collection, sharing and processing. This affects real-time early warning for river systems that run across international borders. In the aftermath of the recent Nepal flood disaster, this explainer looks at the relevance of these issues. What caused the August 2026 disaster in Nepal? Initial reports suggested that a massive mountain slope failure involving glacier ice in Nepal’s Langtang National Park, close to the Chinese border. The mass of debris and flood waters travelled nearly 100 kilometres, gathering more water and rock as it gushed downhill, swelling and overflowing streams and rivers. In Nepal, scientists at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and their partners investigated whether the event was a high-altitude ice-rock avalanche. Rock-snow-ice avalanches —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-disaster-risk-increasing-in-the-himalayas-explainer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-is-disaster-risk-increasing-in-the-himalayas-explainer/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate resilience in Himachal begins with spatial planning [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-resilience-in-himachal-begins-with-spatial-planning-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-resilience-in-himachal-begins-with-spatial-planning-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 17:07:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Prateek Draik]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate resilience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/06/16161947/Image-1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=38680</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himachal Pradesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Science, Environment, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Himalayas, Impacts of Climate Change, Mountains, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Melting glaciers are one of the clearest signs of climate change. But for the people living downstream of them, close enough to touch this melted ice within hours, they are a sign of an impending disaster. The Himalayas have lost an average of 27 metres of ice since 1975, while glacial loss has doubled since [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Melting glaciers are one of the clearest signs of climate change. But for the people living downstream of them, close enough to touch this melted ice within hours, they are a sign of an impending disaster. The Himalayas have lost an average of 27 metres of ice since 1975, while glacial loss has doubled since 2000, according to recent findings. There is a growing climate crisis in the world’s largest freshwater repository outside the poles, and for mountain states like Himachal Pradesh, this also means the emergence of new disaster risks. Towering high over the rugged landscape, these glaciers form the headwaters of rivers that sustain several towns and villages across the state. Global warming is the main reason glaciers are melting faster. The Himalayas are also warming faster than the global average. However, infrastructure development activities can have local effects too, especially through carbon and dust emissions. This is leading to the formation of new glacial lakes, and the expansion of existing ones. A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) occurs when such a lake releases a large volume of water suddenly, often triggered by landslides, avalanches, or even intense rainfall. The 2013 Kedarnath disaster that wiped out nearly 6,000 lives in Uttarakhand was a GLOF event triggered by heavy rain. With many roads, towns and tourism sites located in narrow river valleys across the western Himalayas, these fast-moving flows of water and debris can have devastating impacts. A 2025 study notes that GLOFs in the Himalayas have become more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-resilience-in-himachal-begins-with-spatial-planning-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-resilience-in-himachal-begins-with-spatial-planning-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Better preparedness and warning systems needed to deal with ice-rock avalanches</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/five-years-after-the-chamoli-disaster-a-new-study-calls-for-better-preparedness-and-warning-systems/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/five-years-after-the-chamoli-disaster-a-new-study-calls-for-better-preparedness-and-warning-systems/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Apr 2026 13:56:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manish Chandra Mishra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disaster management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flooding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[planning]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/04/27200317/AP21041342927537-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=37905</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Uttarakhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Environment, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Himalayas, Impacts of Climate Change, Mountains, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Five years after the 2021 floods in Uttarakhand, known as the Chamoli disaster, that resulted in the death of more than 200 people, a new study investigates hazard preparedness in the Himalayas. It compares the 2021 Chamoli disaster with the 2025 Blatten avalanche in Switzerland, where a large ice-rock avalanche buried most of the village [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Five years after the 2021 floods in Uttarakhand, known as the Chamoli disaster, that resulted in the death of more than 200 people, a new study investigates hazard preparedness in the Himalayas. It compares the 2021 Chamoli disaster with the 2025 Blatten avalanche in Switzerland, where a large ice-rock avalanche buried most of the village and resulted in one fatality, after residents were evacuated in advance. It discusses how elements of the Swiss early-warning approach, especially integrated monitoring, communication, and community-linked response, can be adapted to Himalayan realities. The study notes that as glaciers retreat, permafrost thaws and extreme precipitation intensifies due to climate change, effective hazard mitigation is essential. Published in the journal Communications Earth &amp; Environment, the study situates Chamoli within a wider pattern of warming-related mountain hazards and discusses that such failures are not isolated and need clearer recognition in risk governance and preparedness frameworks. “Early warning systems must move beyond small pilot projects and become a core element of national disaster preparedness,” it states. Comparing disaster responses in Chamoli and Blatten According to India’s National Disaster Management Authority’s (NDMA) detailed report on the Uttarakhand disaster, the event began at about 10:08 a.m. on February 7, 2021, when a huge rock mass along with a glacieret (small glacier) failed in the upper reaches of the Garhwal Himalaya, triggering an air blast and a massive debris flow through the Raunthi Gadhera, Rishiganga and Dhauliganga valleys. The disaster damaged the hydropower projects at Raini and Tapovan, along with roads&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/five-years-after-the-chamoli-disaster-a-new-study-calls-for-better-preparedness-and-warning-systems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/04/five-years-after-the-chamoli-disaster-a-new-study-calls-for-better-preparedness-and-warning-systems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Eastern Himalayan hydropower risks locking in climate maladaptation [Commentary]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/02/eastern-himalayan-hydropower-risks-locking-in-climate-maladaptation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/02/eastern-himalayan-hydropower-risks-locking-in-climate-maladaptation-commentary/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2026 16:37:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharon Sarah Thawaney]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eastern himalayas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[glacial melt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hydropower]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infrastructure]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2026/02/10220803/AP23285554626804-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=36822</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Just Transitions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Dams, Ecology, Energy, Environment, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Hydroelectric power, Mountains, Rivers, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over the past two decades, hydropower has reshaped development pathways in the Himalayas. It has been aggressively promoted as clean energy that can meet climate goals, while also driving economic growth. The Hindu Kush Himalaya is widely recognised as a storehouse of untapped green energy, with estimates exceeding 3.5 terawatts (TW) of renewable potential, including [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over the past two decades, hydropower has reshaped development pathways in the Himalayas. It has been aggressively promoted as clean energy that can meet climate goals, while also driving economic growth. The Hindu Kush Himalaya is widely recognised as a storehouse of untapped green energy, with estimates exceeding 3.5 terawatts (TW) of renewable potential, including nearly 882 gigawatts (GW) of hydropower. However, this expansion is unfolding in one of the world’s most geologically fragile mountain systems. Nowhere is this tension more visible than in the Eastern Himalayas, where climate risks are intensifying rapidly. Over time, these shifting risks have exposed how large hydropower projects can amplify, rather than absorb, environmental stress. The 2023 glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) from South Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim crystallised this contradiction. As the flood intersected with hydropower infrastructure along the Teesta, it revealed how vulnerability has been hard-wired into the landscape. This raises an uncomfortable question: has hydropower, long promoted as a climate solution in the Eastern Himalayas, in fact been functioning as a maladaptation? Hydropower on a geologically unstable The concept of maladaptation describes climate responses that ultimately increase vulnerability, shift risk across space or time, or undermine long-term resilience. It is particularly relevant in the Eastern Himalayas, where the physical foundations of large hydropower infrastructure are increasingly misaligned with climatic and geological realities. The Himalayas sit in a seismically active, high-hazard zone characterised by young geology, steep terrain, and dynamic, sediment-rich rivers. Even without considering the impacts of climate change, large,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2026/02/eastern-himalayan-hydropower-risks-locking-in-climate-maladaptation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2026/02/eastern-himalayan-hydropower-risks-locking-in-climate-maladaptation-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Early investments in climate resilience could save India billions in disaster management</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/10/early-investments-in-climate-resilience-could-save-india-billions-in-disaster-management/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/10/early-investments-in-climate-resilience-could-save-india-billions-in-disaster-management/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 17:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Simrinsirur]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disaster insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disaster management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disaster risk]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/10/16175426/pexels-dibakar-roy-2432543-21961069-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=35068</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Finance]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Climate Change, Climate Change Adaptation, Extreme Weather Events, Floods, and Glacial Lake Outburst Flood]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A single one-in-twenty year disaster event could send India reeling with losses worth more than $11 billion (almost a trillion rupees) – the highest among eight countries assessed by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), in a new analysis. But early investments in resilience and social programmes could cover the costs of damage [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A single one-in-twenty year disaster event could send India reeling with losses worth more than $11 billion (almost a trillion rupees) – the highest among eight countries assessed by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), in a new analysis. But early investments in resilience and social programmes could cover the costs of damage for a fraction of what they cost today, the study says. Recently, in Punjab, unusually high levels of rainfall combined with the controlled release of water from the Ranji Sagar Dam sank 176,000 hectares of farmland across 2,000 villages. The state government has estimated the extent of monetary losses to be ₹129 billion, including destruction to agriculture, infrastructure, and livestock. Severe floods were also reported in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Manipur this year. India is especially in need for adaptation measures that will adequately cover the costs of escalating disasters. In 2024, India saw extreme weather events on 255 of 274 days surveyed by the Centre for Science and Environment. The IIED study analysed four types of interventions to gauge the costs and benefits of each when it comes to disaster management, finding that more than humanitarian aid, early investments in resilience (such as employment schemes and direct benefit transfers) had the biggest impact in reducing the extent of losses from disasters. “A lot of communities, when hit by a disaster, sell their assets. With late humanitarian responses, like post-disaster aid, you can bring losses down to 59%. But if early resilience investments are made, or&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/10/early-investments-in-climate-resilience-could-save-india-billions-in-disaster-management/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/10/early-investments-in-climate-resilience-could-save-india-billions-in-disaster-management/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>What are cloudbursts? Why do they occur and how can cloudburst risks be reduced? [Explainer]</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/08/what-are-cloudbursts-why-do-they-occur-and-how-can-cloudburst-risks-be-reduced-explainer/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/08/what-are-cloudbursts-why-do-they-occur-and-how-can-cloudburst-risks-be-reduced-explainer/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2025 14:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Max Martin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Kundan Pandey]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[extreme rainfall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heavy rainfall]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/08/27114329/AP307620738099-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=34325</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections and Environment Explained]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Science, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Impacts of Climate Change, and Lakes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Amidst climate change and extreme rainfall events, cloudbursts — sudden, intense rainstorms over small areas — are becoming a recurring hazard in India’s fragile mountain regions. Cloudburst events can trigger devastating flash floods and landslides. Extreme rain events can be even worse with other risks such Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) that occur when snow [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Amidst climate change and extreme rainfall events, cloudbursts — sudden, intense rainstorms over small areas — are becoming a recurring hazard in India’s fragile mountain regions. Cloudburst events can trigger devastating flash floods and landslides. Extreme rain events can be even worse with other risks such Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) that occur when snow melts due to higher than usual temperatures and the heavy rain causes glacial lakes to breach, unleashing torrents downstream. The recent disaster in Uttarakhand’s Dharali village reflects such growing threats, highlighting both natural triggers and human-made vulnerabilities. Poorly regulated development — roads, tunnels, dams, quarries and blasting on the unstable slopes — often amplifies the damage. While NASA-ISRO’s NISAR mission and newer Earth observation satellites promise better risk mapping and early warning, real resilience will depend on enforcing environmental safeguards, strengthening local preparedness, and recognising that unchecked development in high-risk zones is no longer an option, experts note. What is a cloudburst? A cloudburst is a sudden release of downpour — an extreme weather event of rainfall over a small area (20-30 sq. km.); a rainfall of 100 mm or more in one hour recorded in a station, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) defines it. While cloudbursts are most common in mountainous regions like the Himalayas or the Western Ghats, they can occur anywhere. They only require building up massive amounts of moisture and which they release all at once. An Indian review of cloudbursts in the Himalayas shows that most of the cloudburst&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/08/what-are-cloudbursts-why-do-they-occur-and-how-can-cloudburst-risks-be-reduced-explainer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/08/what-are-cloudbursts-why-do-they-occur-and-how-can-cloudburst-risks-be-reduced-explainer/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Assessment of Sikkim flood impact shows damage to fish habitats</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/assessment-of-sikkim-flood-impact-shows-damage-to-fish-habitats/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/assessment-of-sikkim-flood-impact-shows-damage-to-fish-habitats/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2025 16:01:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fish population]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fisheries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freshwater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Northeast India]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teesta River]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/07/17134557/Fishermen_in_Teesta_river_Gaibandha_district-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=33653</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond Protected Areas]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Sikkim]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Fish, Fishing, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Himalayas, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study published by researchers from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) reveals the extent of damage caused by the 2023 glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Sikkim, noting significant changes in water depth, quality, and floodplain structure since the deluge. The GLOF in October 2023 destroyed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study published by researchers from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) reveals the extent of damage caused by the 2023 glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Sikkim, noting significant changes in water depth, quality, and floodplain structure since the deluge. The GLOF in October 2023 destroyed a 1,200-megawatt hydropower project and killed 55 people as it came cascading down, marking one of the worst disasters the northeastern Himalayan state had seen in recent times. While several assessments capturing the extent of damage to the state’s infrastructure exist, only a few studies have evaluated the ecological damages borne by the river. The ICAR-NBFGR study, published in the journal Ecohydrology in May, compared the health of the river pre- and post-flood, looking specifically at parameters such as deep pool habitats, water turbidity, and provision of ecosystem services. “We had an ongoing study to capture the diversity of the Teesta basin when the flood occurred, which is why we were able to compare parameters before and after the flood happened,” said Rejani Chandran, a senior scientist at ICAR-NBFGR and an author of the study. Trout in the Himalayas. Following a disastrous glacial lake outburst flood in October 2023, several assessments captured the damage to the state’s infrastructure, whereas only a few studies evaluated the ecological damages borne by the Teesta river. Representative image by Acred99 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Sujith V. Gopalan, an independent conservation biologist who was not involved with the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/assessment-of-sikkim-flood-impact-shows-damage-to-fish-habitats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/07/assessment-of-sikkim-flood-impact-shows-damage-to-fish-habitats/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Political stir follows expert panel&#8217;s approval to rebuild Teesta dam in Sikkim</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/02/political-stir-follows-expert-panels-approval-to-rebuild-teesta-dam-in-sikkim/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/02/political-stir-follows-expert-panels-approval-to-rebuild-teesta-dam-in-sikkim/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2025 14:44:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hydroelectric Power]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hydropower]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Political parties]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/02/06121747/7742751410_0beeb6225e_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=31375</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Sikkim]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Dams, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Hydroelectric power, Mountains, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In an unusually discordant move, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sikkim cadre wrote a letter to the Prime Minister on February 2, urging the Union government to withhold its approval to rebuild the Teesta III Hydro Electric Project dam, which was destroyed in a deluge over a year ago and the impacts [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In an unusually discordant move, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sikkim cadre wrote a letter to the Prime Minister on February 2, urging the Union government to withhold its approval to rebuild the Teesta III Hydro Electric Project dam, which was destroyed in a deluge over a year ago and the impacts of which continue to be felt in the state. “The people of Sikkim deeply value your commitment to environmental conservation and disaster resilience. The Teesta river is the lifeline of Sikkim, and any decision regarding hydropower infrastructure must be based on the scientific data, risk assessments, and inclusive public participation,” the letter, signed by the state party President D.R. Thapa, reads. The letter’s urgency was brought on by the fact that only a few weeks prior, a centrally-appointed Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) approved plans to rebuild the dam just 14 months after it was swept away. The final approval is granted by the Union Environment Ministry, generally on the recommendation of the EAC. In October 2023, a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) originating from the South Lhonak glacial lake destroyed the 1200-megawatt Teesta III Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in minutes, killing 55 people along the way and displacing 7,025 others. The destruction was described as one of the worst disasters the Himalayan state had ever seen and spotlighted the need to account for the region’s fragile ecology. Both environmental experts and opposition parties in the state have raised concerns about the project’s renewed approval for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/02/political-stir-follows-expert-panels-approval-to-rebuild-teesta-dam-in-sikkim/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/02/political-stir-follows-expert-panels-approval-to-rebuild-teesta-dam-in-sikkim/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>A regional hub in the Himalayas to reduce risks from climate-induced disasters</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/a-regional-hub-in-the-himalayas-to-reduce-risks-from-climate-induced-disasters/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/a-regional-hub-in-the-himalayas-to-reduce-risks-from-climate-induced-disasters/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jan 2025 14:53:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nidhi Jamwal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disasters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flooding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[landslide]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mountains]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2025/01/14144804/16871032135_5ee462ab72_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=31068</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections and Flood and drought]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Himalayas, Impacts of Climate Change, and Mountains]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Disasters do not stop at geographical boundaries. What happens upstream, affects downstream and vice versa. That is why we need regional cooperation in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which is shared by a group of countries,” said Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an international organisation based in Kathmandu, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Disasters do not stop at geographical boundaries. What happens upstream, affects downstream and vice versa. That is why we need regional cooperation in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which is shared by a group of countries,” said Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an international organisation based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He was speaking at the inaugural session of the launch of Hindu Kush Himalayan Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Hub, which aims to accelerate understanding, information-sharing and action to address the increasing number of disasters in the Himalayan mountains which are spread across 3,500 kilometres in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. The launch of the DRR Hub on December 9-10, 2024, was held in Kathmandu. ICIMOD’s regional member countries and their governments, academia, practitioners, non-governmental organisations, UN agencies such as United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), were in attendance. The Hindu Kush Himalayan DRR Hub, with its secretariat at ICIMOD, aims to protect hill communities, infrastructure and ecosystem services from the rising numbers and intensity of cloudbursts and floods, landslides, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), avalanches and droughts. There are shared risks and vulnerabilities across borders, which are exacerbated by climate change and hence, the need for a collaborative approach. It is estimated that over 241 million people inhabit the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, the source of 10 major river systems, including the Indus, Ganges&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/a-regional-hub-in-the-himalayas-to-reduce-risks-from-climate-induced-disasters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2025/01/a-regional-hub-in-the-himalayas-to-reduce-risks-from-climate-induced-disasters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>[Commentary] Holding financiers accountable for bankrolling big hydro projects</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/12/commentary-holding-financiers-accountable-for-bankrolling-big-hydro-projects/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/12/commentary-holding-financiers-accountable-for-bankrolling-big-hydro-projects/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2024 14:39:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amitanshu Verma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/12/04135536/37906269031_63ef410863_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=30583</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Flood and drought and The India Water Story]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, and Hydroelectric power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A year has passed since disaster ravaged the Teesta river basin in north Sikkim. On October 4, 2023, a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Lhonak Glacial Lake wreaked havoc on the Teesta basin in Sikkim and West Bengal. It destroyed villages, homes, and livelihoods and reportedly claimed over a hundred lives. The Sikkim Urja [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A year has passed since disaster ravaged the Teesta river basin in north Sikkim. On October 4, 2023, a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Lhonak Glacial Lake wreaked havoc on the Teesta basin in Sikkim and West Bengal. It destroyed villages, homes, and livelihoods and reportedly claimed over a hundred lives. The Sikkim Urja Limited-run Teesta Stage-3 dam (Teesta III hydroelectric project) — one of the biggest hydropower dams in India with 1,200 MW electricity generation capacity – was entirely wiped out by last year’s devastating glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). While further downstream, the Teesta V dam was rendered inoperable and has not generated power since then. As the Teesta III dam is about to be rebuilt, public sector development finance institutions REC Limited (earlier known as the Rural Electrification Corporation) and the Power Finance Corporation are reportedly going to bankroll the reconstruction. This investment plan raises serious concerns because it seems to ignore the web of climate risks, financial and ecological costs and harmful socio-economic impact associated with the project. It also raises a crucial question &#8211; What should be the accountability of financial institutions towards environmental, social and climate harm engendered by projects and activities they finance? Financing big infra in a vulnerable landscape The communities affected by the 2023 GLOF have not received compensation for their losses, and many continue to live in relief camps. The Teesta stage III disaster was not entirely unexpected. Local communities impacted by the dam had long been pointing out&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2024/12/commentary-holding-financiers-accountable-for-bankrolling-big-hydro-projects/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/12/commentary-holding-financiers-accountable-for-bankrolling-big-hydro-projects/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Melting ice: Need to freeze on an action plan quickly</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/melting-ice-need-to-freeze-on-an-action-plan-quickly/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/melting-ice-need-to-freeze-on-an-action-plan-quickly/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Nov 2024 10:18:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Soumya Sarkar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[S. Gopikrishna Warrier]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COP29]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glacial Lake Outburst Flood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[glacier]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glaciers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ice]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2024/11/14225507/25557636460_03dd2574ce_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=30262</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, and Global Warming]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At around the midnight of October 4, 2023, people in Chungthang, a small town in northern Sikkim in the Indian Himalayas, woke up to a frightening rumble amid torrential rainfall. Within minutes, a massive onrush of water, mud and boulders swept through the town, washing away homes and destroying a dam on the Teesta river. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At around the midnight of October 4, 2023, people in Chungthang, a small town in northern Sikkim in the Indian Himalayas, woke up to a frightening rumble amid torrential rainfall. Within minutes, a massive onrush of water, mud and boulders swept through the town, washing away homes and destroying a dam on the Teesta river. The flash flood was caused when a lake fed by the Lhonak glacier burst its banks after a cloudburst on October 3-4. Water levels downstream in the Teesta rose by as much as 15-20 feet, causing havoc in Sikkim and neighbouring West Bengal, and inundating hundreds of villages in Bangladesh. More than 100 people died in India and property damage was counted in millions of dollars. Such extreme weather events, known as glacial lake outburst floods, have become increasingly common as global warming causes glaciers to retreat, releasing huge amounts of meltwater in a matter of years. Just a year earlier, torrential monsoon rains and melting glaciers after severe heatwaves in Pakistan killed nearly 2,000 people and caused economic damages worth $15.2 billion between June and October 2022, according to an assessment by the World Bank. Rescue efforts in the aftermath of the glacial lake outburst flood in Sikkim on October 4. Image by Press Information Bureau, Gangtok. Scientists have been for years sounding the alarm on such disasters due to human-induced climate change. The accelerating losses in the planet’s snow and ice regions, known as the cryosphere, will result in vastly higher impacts on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/melting-ice-need-to-freeze-on-an-action-plan-quickly/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2024/11/melting-ice-need-to-freeze-on-an-action-plan-quickly/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>No early warning system and insufficient dam safety turned Sikkim flood deadly</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/10/no-early-warning-system-and-insufficient-dam-safety-turned-sikkim-flood-deadly/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/10/no-early-warning-system-and-insufficient-dam-safety-turned-sikkim-flood-deadly/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2023 14:25:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glacial Lake Outburst Flood]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2023/10/09134226/F7qg1D7aAAAWu_i-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=24780</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Clean Energy and Flood and drought]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Sikkim]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Floods and Glacial Lake Outburst Flood]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every year, September 18 is observed as a day of disaster risk reduction in Sikkim, in remembrance of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that shook the state in 2011. This year was no different, with a focus on preparedness should a flood come cascading down the mighty Teesta river. And yet, when a few weeks later [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every year, September 18 is observed as a day of disaster risk reduction in Sikkim, in remembrance of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that shook the state in 2011. This year was no different, with a focus on preparedness should a flood come cascading down the mighty Teesta river. And yet, when a few weeks later it did, the state and dam authorities did not anticipate the scale of the disaster – among the worst flood events to have ever taken place since 1968 – proving its preparedness efforts to be too incremental. In the early hours of October 4, the glacier-fed South Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim breached, causing a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) that destroyed the state’s largest hydropower plant and left at least 35 people dead and around 104 missing as on October 9.  “Even though we’ve studied the possibility of this occurring, I was numb with shock when I first heard the news,” said Ashim Sattar, a researcher with the Divecha Centre for Climate Change at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, who projected a GLOF would occur at the lake in a 2021 modeling study. Scientists and citizens affected by the damming of the Teesta river have warned about the dangers of a GLOF event since 2005. The state and central governments have been aware of the risks and made piecemeal attempts to mitigate the threat of a flood in the past. But authorities were not immediately alerted that the lake had breached on October&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2023/10/no-early-warning-system-and-insufficient-dam-safety-turned-sikkim-flood-deadly/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/10/no-early-warning-system-and-insufficient-dam-safety-turned-sikkim-flood-deadly/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Accelerated glacier retreat in Ladakh could spawn three glacial lakes, Wadia Institute study says</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/08/accelerated-glacier-retreat-in-ladakh-could-spawn-three-glacial-lakes-wadia-institute-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/08/accelerated-glacier-retreat-in-ladakh-could-spawn-three-glacial-lakes-wadia-institute-study-says/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Aug 2023 10:50:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Simrin Sirur]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glacial Lake Outburst Flood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glaciers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Himalayas]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2023/08/09190705/Nun_Kun_Overview_from_Parkachik_La_Pass_at_some_4000_m_height_with_left_a_long_glacier_see_also_my_first_Photos_on_Panoramio_last_page_at_overview_-_panoramio-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=24003</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas, India, and Ladakh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, and Himalayas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of the largest glaciers in the Suru river valley in Ladakh has been retreating at a much faster rate in recent decades, new research by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology has found. Should the glacier continue to melt at its current pace, it could lead to the formation of three glacial lakes, increasing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One of the largest glaciers in the Suru river valley in Ladakh has been retreating at a much faster rate in recent decades, new research by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology has found. Should the glacier continue to melt at its current pace, it could lead to the formation of three glacial lakes, increasing the region’s risk to glacial lake outburst floods. The Parachik glacier in the Suru river valley covers an area of 53 square kilometers, with a length of about 14 kilometers. Between 1971 and 1999, the glacier retreated at an average rate of two meters per annum, according to satellite imagery and remote sensing data collected by the Institute. Between 1999 and 2021, the glacier retreat accelerated considerably, rising to a rate of 12 metres per annum. Additional field surveys conducted between 2015 and 2021 show an even higher retreat of 20 meters per annum. “Glacier retreat is a natural phenomenon, but the accelerated retreat that we are seeing in recent years is a matter of concern and can be linked to the effects of global warming,” said Manish Mehta, a scientist with the Wadia Institute and one of the authors of the paper. “Glaciers are the main supply of water for this region, so if it continues to retreat, it will worsen water scarcity issues.” The Parachik glacier is located in the southern Zanskar ranges of the Western Himalaya. The Suru river is a tributary of the Indus and is considered a major source of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2023/08/accelerated-glacier-retreat-in-ladakh-could-spawn-three-glacial-lakes-wadia-institute-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2023/08/accelerated-glacier-retreat-in-ladakh-could-spawn-three-glacial-lakes-wadia-institute-study-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>[Explainer] What is glacial lake outburst flooding and how does it affect the Himalayas?</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/03/explainer-what-is-a-glacial-lake-outburst-flooding-and-how-does-it-affect-the-himalayas/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/03/explainer-what-is-a-glacial-lake-outburst-flooding-and-how-does-it-affect-the-himalayas/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Mar 2022 12:52:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mudassir Kuloo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[floods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glaciers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Himalayas]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2022/03/15082148/Pic-1-Proglacial-lake-associated-with-Drang-Drung-glacier-in-Zanskar-Kargil-of-Ladakh-region-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=17462</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections, Environment Explained, and Flood and drought]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas and India]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Glacial Lake Outburst Flood and Glaciers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Himalayas are witnessing an increasing threat of glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF). Over the years, several GLOFs hit the Himalayas, causing massive destruction to the infrastructure, while also claiming thousands of lives. What is a GLOF? GLOF is the term scientists use to describe the incident when the water levels of glacial lakes breach [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Himalayas are witnessing an increasing threat of glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF). Over the years, several GLOFs hit the Himalayas, causing massive destruction to the infrastructure, while also claiming thousands of lives. What is a GLOF? GLOF is the term scientists use to describe the incident when the water levels of glacial lakes breach their boundaries, causing large amounts of water to flow into nearby streams and rivers. These also create flash floods. Experts attribute GLOFs to climate change and the increase of anthropogenic footprints on glaciers. Why are glaciers in the Himalayas shrinking? There are 2,000 glacial lakes in the Himalayas of which over 200 are vulnerable to outbursts, according to Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, Vice-Chancellor of Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Kashmir, who has done extensive research on glaciers in the Himalayas. Romshoo states that there are varied reasons for the increase of GLOF threats in the Himalayas. “Glaciers in the Himalayas are shrinking very fast at the rate of 20 metre per year due to global warming. This increases the threat of a GLOF.  Some glaciers may vanish in a few decades. In Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, most water requirements are met by glaciers. We need a proper strategy to preserve glaciers, so we don’t face water crises in the future,” explained Romshoo. Irfan Rashid, who teaches at Department of Geo Informatics University of Kashmir, elucidated that glaciers are retreating due to climate change and increase in the anthropogenic footprint in the glaciers. How&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2022/03/explainer-what-is-a-glacial-lake-outburst-flooding-and-how-does-it-affect-the-himalayas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/03/explainer-what-is-a-glacial-lake-outburst-flooding-and-how-does-it-affect-the-himalayas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Glaciers at Pangong in Ladakh retreated 6.7% since 1990, says recent research</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/02/glaciers-at-pangong-in-ladakh-retreated-6-7-since-1990-says-recent-research/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/02/glaciers-at-pangong-in-ladakh-retreated-6-7-since-1990-says-recent-research/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2022 11:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mudassir Kuloo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Aditi Tandon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[glacier]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Himalayas]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2022/02/09160844/1200px-Pangong_view-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=17062</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Climate Connections, Flood and drought, and India's Iconic Landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, and Glaciers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Glaciers at Pangong region in Union Territory Ladakh have receded 6.7 percent for the last three decades, according to recent research with experts warning of serious consequences on the ecology of the cold deserted region of India. This revelation through this research has come to the fore at a time when  the dispute between India [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Glaciers at Pangong region in Union Territory Ladakh have receded 6.7 percent for the last three decades, according to recent research with experts warning of serious consequences on the ecology of the cold deserted region of India. This revelation through this research has come to the fore at a time when  the dispute between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh is at a high since April 2020. The research titled Spatiotemporal dynamics and geodetic of glaciers with varying debris cover in the Pangong region of Trans-Himalayan Ladakh India between 1990 and 2019, has ascertained the area changes and frontal retreat of 87 glaciers in the Pangong region on the Indian side. Using satellite data, the research found that glaciers at Pangong have retreated “6.7 percent” since 1990. “These glaciers are relatively small with an average size of 0.8 square kilometres,&#8221; said the study. Out of 87 glaciers in the study area, researchers found that four glaciers are associated with a proglacial lake. &#8220;Given the prevailing glacier melt scenario over the seismically-active Jammu and Kashmir, the development of new proglacial lakes and the presence of already existing ones would pose a significant glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) risk to the downstream communities and infrastructure,” it has warned. Satellite images of 1990 and 2020 show retreating glaciers 6.7 percent in the last 3 decades. Photo courtesy Dr. Irfan Rashid. Glacial lakes are formed by the accumulation of water from the melting of glaciers. In recent times,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2022/02/glaciers-at-pangong-in-ladakh-retreated-6-7-since-1990-says-recent-research/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2022/02/glaciers-at-pangong-in-ladakh-retreated-6-7-since-1990-says-recent-research/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Glacier loss pushing India&#8217;s mountain region towards water insecurity</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/12/glacier-loss-pushing-indias-mountain-region-towards-water-insecurity/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/12/glacier-loss-pushing-indias-mountain-region-towards-water-insecurity/?noamp=mobile#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Dec 2021 13:43:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kapil Kajal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Priyanka Shankar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glaciers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2021/12/11221429/A_view_of_Sutlej_river_Himachal_Pradesh_India_2014-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=16501</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himachal Pradesh, Himalayas, India, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Food, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Himachal Pradesh, a state that has five important perennial rivers fed particularly by glaciers, has witnessed a decline in snowfall over the past year. The area under snow cover in the state has declined by 18.5% between 2019-20 and 2020-21 according to a report by the State Centre on Climate Change (SCCC) Shimla and Space [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Himachal Pradesh, a state that has five important perennial rivers fed particularly by glaciers, has witnessed a decline in snowfall over the past year. The area under snow cover in the state has declined by 18.5% between 2019-20 and 2020-21 according to a report by the State Centre on Climate Change (SCCC) Shimla and Space Application Centre (ISRO) Ahmedabad. The study revealed that the area under snow cover in 2019-20 was 23,542 sq km, which dropped to 19,183 sq km in 2020-21, a decline of 3,404 sq km or 18.52%. Usually, in the winter season, about one-third of the geographical area of the state, which amounts to about 18,556 sq km, remains under thick snow cover. Most of the major rivers like Chenab, Beas, Parvati, Baspa, Spiti, Ravi, Satlej and their perennial tributaries originating from the Himalayas depend upon the seasonal snow cover for their discharge dependability. S. S. Randhawa, the principal scientist at SCCC, who headed the study team, said, “Considering the importance of snowfall in the region, we did this study by analysing the data from satellites. We observed a shift in snowfall patterns in the last few years and snow cover is continuously declining. We also observed a decreasing trend in four river basins of the state which put long-term implications on water availability in the river basins.” The report added that the snow cover in the Chenab basin fell from 7,154.12 sq km in 2019-20 to 6,515.92 sq km in 2020-21, a reduction of 638.2 sq&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2021/12/glacier-loss-pushing-indias-mountain-region-towards-water-insecurity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2021/12/glacier-loss-pushing-indias-mountain-region-towards-water-insecurity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Melting Himalayas put billions at risk</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/02/melting-himalaya-puts-billions-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/02/melting-himalaya-puts-billions-at-risk/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2019 12:20:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2019/02/05174302/Banner1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=4064</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[India's Iconic Landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Food, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Glaciers, Global Warming, Himalayas, Hydroelectric power, Migration, Monsoons, Mountains, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Hindu Kush Himalaya region that supports nearly 40 percent of the global population, directly or indirectly, is under severe stress with rising global temperatures. Even if the world manages to keep to its Paris Agreement commitments and limits the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, the Himalayan region is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Hindu Kush Himalaya region that supports nearly 40 percent of the global population, directly or indirectly, is under severe stress with rising global temperatures. Even if the world manages to keep to its Paris Agreement commitments and limits the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, the Himalayan region is expected to lose 36 percent of its glacier volumes by 2100, states a recent report. In a shift from the usual climate change narrative, the hardest hit by this global warming in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) are not just the most vulnerable low income groups, but also rich and middle-income people. Further, women in the region are more susceptible to natural disasters than men, highlighting a need for revision in policies and responses to disasters that often overlook the socio-cultural situation of women. The report, ‘Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment: Mountains, Climate Change, Sustainability, and People’, prepared under the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP), was released on February 4 by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an intergovernmental organisation in Kathmandu (Nepal). The report is a result of three years of work by about 350 researchers. With looming glacier loss, the region could also witness an increase in natural hazards like glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), rise in temperature and precipitation and significant loss of biodiversity by the year 2100, said the report. More than one billion people are at risk in the region with increasing magnitude and frequency of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2019/02/melting-himalaya-puts-billions-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2019/02/melting-himalaya-puts-billions-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Waiting to heal: Five years since the Uttarakhand floods, the scars are still fresh</title>
					<link>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/07/waiting-to-heal-five-years-since-the-uttarakhand-floods-the-scars-are-still-fresh/</link>
					<comments>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/07/waiting-to-heal-five-years-since-the-uttarakhand-floods-the-scars-are-still-fresh/?noamp=mobile#comments</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jul 2018 14:50:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mayank AggarwalVideo by Kartik Chandramouli]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayank Aggarwal]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[floods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hydroelectric Power]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rivers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/07/03210113/Upreti_Feature-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://india.mongabay.com/?p=1657</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Environment and Her and India's Iconic Landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Himalayas and Uttarakhand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities and Towns, Dams, Energy, Floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, Hydroelectric power, People, Rivers, and Villages]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[H.P. Upreti, an ex-serviceman lives in the Shakti Vihar locality of the Srinagar town of Uttarakhand. He vividly recalls the day, five years ago, when one of the worst natural disasters struck his hometown. “The water came rushing in. It was everywhere. It’s a scene I will never forget.” Srinagar was one of the worst-hit [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[H.P. Upreti, an ex-serviceman lives in the Shakti Vihar locality of the Srinagar town of Uttarakhand. He vividly recalls the day, five years ago, when one of the worst natural disasters struck his hometown. “The water came rushing in. It was everywhere. It’s a scene I will never forget.” Srinagar was one of the worst-hit areas during the devastating June 2013 floods in Uttarakhand. Low lying areas of the town, like Shakti Vihar, were inundated and houses were filled with muck deposited by floodwaters. “Nearly the whole colony was underwater. The whole area was filled with muck brought in by floods. All houses were filled with muck and in some cases, the water had completely covered the ground floor of the house. I suffered heavy damage and everything was destroyed,” Upreti recounted to Mongabay-India while showing the restoration work he carried out. “I got only Rs. one lakh (Rs. 100,000) compensation and that too after a lot of haggling. I didn’t want to shift from here and so, since 2013, I have spent over Rs. 14 lakh (Rs. 1.4 million) to restore my house,” added Upreti, who is now fighting a case for enhanced compensation. Over 1800 days have passed since the June 2013 floods that brought widespread tragedy to Uttarakhand. But its scars remain fresh.  Some structures in Srinagar, Uttarakhand still remain submerged and serve as a constant reminder of the tragedy. Photo by Kartik Chandramouli / Mongabay. &nbsp; The disaster that shook the hill state Uttarakhand, a highly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2018/07/waiting-to-heal-five-years-since-the-uttarakhand-floods-the-scars-are-still-fresh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://india.mongabay.com/2018/07/waiting-to-heal-five-years-since-the-uttarakhand-floods-the-scars-are-still-fresh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
														</item>
			</channel>
</rss>