Himalayan catastrophes in the making

The World Meteorological Organisation has warned about increased risk of natural hazards like glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) due to retreating of glaciers in ecologically fragile areas of Asia.

The warning has been sounded in its report titled ‘State of Climate in Asia’ released a week ago.

While impact as has been forewarned, has already been evident in the states skirting the Himalayas, the report’s findings are crucial in that they emphasise the pressing need for coordinated global action to mitigate the dangers posed by the climate-change.

The first of the GLOF catastrophe was witnessed in 2013 around the pilgrim town of Kedarnath when floods caused by glacial burst swept away villages after village in the mountains state of Uttarakhand killing nearly 6,000 people.

The latest among the series of such disasters was reported from Sikkim on October 3, 2023 when South Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim breached washing away the Chungthang Dam downstream and knocking off the 1,200 MW power project in the tiny Himalayan state.

The disaster displaced nearly 90,000 people, devoured 44 lives and swept away 33 bridges and 16 highways.

The WMO report warns of accelerated risk of flooding and catastrophes due to glacial burst covering an area of over one lakh square kilometres in Tibetan Plateau, generally termed as the Third Pole of the world due to its mass of ice.

Obviously, the glacier retreat is caused by lengthening of the summer season which is also leading to reduced snowfall. The report says the threat to human habitations in the mountains and hydropower stations is more than what the croplands might potentially suffer.

The Himalayan glaciers constitute the source of supply of water to nearly 3.5 billion people in Asia embracing the two most populous countries i.e., India and China.

It is imperative for the states in the region to coordinate mitigative steps to reduce the damage being predicted.