State of the art in flash flood risk management in the Himalaya

Introduction

The Himalayas, one of the youngest mountain ranges on earth is characterized by a high energy environment due to high relief, steep slopes, complex geological structures with active tectonic process and continued seismic activities. Furthermore, the region has a climatic system with great seasonality in rainfall. In combination, they make natural hazards, especially the water induced disasters a common phenomenon in the region.

Flash floods are one of the most devastating natural disaster because of their rapid occurrence, little lead time for warning and tremendous amount of water and debris load transported with high energy. Flash flood can be of different types. Intense rainfall floods (IRF), glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), landslide dam outburst flood (LDOF) and flash flood due to rapid melting of snow and ice are the common types of flash floods encountered by the people of the Himalayas. Failures of man made dams and other hydraulic structures can also lead to flash floods. Thousands of people, their lives, livelihood, and homes, along with expensive infrastructure are at great risk from flash floods in the Himalayan region every year. The threat to downstream people is likely to increase in the face of climate and environmental change.

ICIMOD recognizing the importance to address flash flood in the Himalayas has been conducting various activities in past years. An international workshop was organized in 2005 to understand the state-of-art in flash flood risk management and flash flood risk in the region. Since 2006 ICIMOD with support from USAID/OFDA has been conducting activities targeted towards capacity building in flash flood risk management. As a result resource manuals have been developed, case studies were conducted and trainings have been delivered.

Workshop objectives

The major objective of the workshop is share findings of the case studies conducted by ICIMOD and to share state-of-the-art in the region and globally in flash flood risk management and thereby support risk management capacities and awareness in the Himalayas.