STH activities : 23 and 25May2014

Being an NGO member of the Darjeeling District Disaster Management Committee, we attended the meeting in the Gorkha Rangamancha (auditorium), Darjeeling on 23 May2014 - the meeting was Chaired by Mr Puneet Yadav (IAS), DM Darjeeling (Top slide).
On 25May2014, we took the Director, GSI Engineering Geology, Easter Region (Kolkata) to Chibo village and followed by that a field visit to the landslide area at Pashyor (Bottom slide).

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch (23May2014) : POOF! and the storm disappears!!!

The depression which was predicted to move northwestwards towards Bangladesh both by the JTWC and IMetD yesterday, seemed to have a mind of its own today and curved southwest wards and quite suddenly weakened into a well marked low and as such has become insignificant.
It's amazing that all the science and technology in the world cannot quite  predict or understand the behavior of these storms as they wax and wane in the ocean.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch (22May2014 update) : JTWC changes predicted track

For further details go here
Whereas on 21May2014, the depression was seen moving east towards MyanMar, on 22May2014, the projected track shows the storm moving northwest towards Bangladesh and could well affect W. Bengal as well.
This forecast seems in keeping with the meteorological analysis by IMetD (22May2014) in its ALL INDIA WEATHER BULLETIN (Night), which states :-
'The depression over east central Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards and lay centered at 1730 hours IST of today, near lat.17.5°N and long. 92.0E, about 650 km north-northwest of Port Blair. It would move north-northwestwards during next 48 hours'

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch (21May2014) : TRMM Sees Stormy Bay Of Bengal + Updates

The TRMM website is one of the many that STH uses while keeping a track of the storms that brew up in the Bay of Bengal.
Placed below is an image juxtaposing the latest image of the storm taken from IMD with that on the TRMM website.

* Update at 0830h IST, 21May2014
The low pressure area over eastcentral Bay of Bengal & neighbourhood concentrated into depression at 0830 hours IST of today, the 21st May 2014 near latitude 15.5°N and longitude 90.5°E over eastcentral Bay of Bengal, about 490 km north­northwest of Port Blair.
It may intensify further into a deep depression during next 24 hours. It would move near northwards for some time andthen north­northeastwards towards Myanmar & adjoining Bangladesh coast during next 48 h

For anyone interested in details see here

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Deficient rainfall, monsoon progress and formation of the first LOPAR of 2014 in the Bay of Bengal

The Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya is running anywhere from 56% deficient during the winter of 2013 to 31% deficient in Mar-May2014 (see top map) in rainfall. This has resulted in the maize crop being stunted and dwarfed in many parts of rural Kalimpong, a severe adverse effect in the tea industry and  a critical shortage in potable water in all the urban centres of the district.
In this background, the formation of 'a low pressure area over east central Bay of Bengal and its neighbourhood, an associated cyclonic circulation extending upto mean troposphere' (see above) maybe a welcome sign of rain in the days ahead.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Monsoon 2014

Consensus Statement of South Asian Climate Forum (SASCOF -5), Pune, India (14 - 23April2014)

Summary
Below normal to normal rainfall is most likely during the 2014 summer
monsoon season (June - September) over south Asia as a whole. Below normal
rainfall is likely over broad areas of western, central and southwestern parts of South
Asia and some areas in the northeastern most parts of the region. Normal rainfall is
likely over broad areas of northwestern and eastern parts and some island areas
in the southernmost parts of the region.
You can download the full statement in PDF format here

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

US Gov "National Climate Change Assessment" (May2014)

Read the report here

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

An Article on the 'Ab Barek' Landslide in Afghanistan

An interesting article on why and how the landslide that has claimed more than 2000 lives happened and what may happen if the situation isn't contained is below :

The Badakshan landslide: A foreseeable tragedy?

A recent rainfall-triggered landslide in Ab Barek (sometimes referred to as Abe Bareek) in the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan is suspected of taking the lives of up to 2100 villagers. As with so many remote events, details are scarce, although a number of images and videos have appeared on social media websites over the last days. Some images, as that below, indicate the landslide may have crossed a river valley and formed a landslide dam blocking the river running through the town. In a region that has recently experienced heavy rainfall, the formation, and breach of such a dam could have severe consequences to any communities downstream.

Please find full article here

Rohan Rao,

Secretary,STH,

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling,

Email - sth.secretary@gmail.com

From the Telegraph (05May2014) - North Bengal University to start Disaster Management Studies

NBU to offer disaster study

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Siliguri, May 4: North Bengal University will start a three-month certificate course in disaster management from the coming academic session following prods from governor M.K. Narayanan who highlighted the role the institution needed to play in the region prone to natural calamities. On April 25, the executive council — one of the highest decision making bodies at the NBU — approved a proposal of the department of lifelong learning and extension (to start the course at the university). “North Bengal’s geography is such that it is prone to natural calamities like landslides, earthquakes and floods. Honourable Governor M.K. Narayanan who is also the chancellor had asked the varsity to take necessary steps to start disaster management courses. We have initiated the process and the executive council at its last meeting on April 25 approved the proposal to start the course. In this way, we can prepare youths in the region to play a proactive role during natural calamities,” said vice-chancellor Somnath Ghosh. Narayanan had asked the varsity to focus on the study of disaster management at the 42nd convocation in April 2010. “The varsity is located in a region that is prone to natural calamities. Landslides are rampant in Darjeeling hills, floods in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar and earthquakes and cyclones hit this region frequently. In this kind of scenario, the varsity can play a vital role by establishing a Centre of Excellence for study of disaster management,” Narayanan had said. Full article is available here Comment by Praful Rao NBU did have a diploma course in Disaster Management earlier and STH has participated on a number of occasions in field visits/ workshops. We hope to do this again Praful Rao, Kalimpong, Dist Darjeeling

Climate change : CNN report

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH activities: Training workshop on Earthquake and Landslide Management at ATI Kolkata (28-30Apr2014)

28-30Apr2014 - The Administrative Training Institute (ATI), in collaboration with the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) organized a training workshop on 'Landslide and Earthquake' Management in Kolkata. The training covered many important aspects such as structural and non-structural mitigation measures, the Incident Response System, community based preparedness to build resilience, landslide and earthquake vulnerability in West Bengal etc. 

Rohan Rao,

Secretary,STH,

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling,

Email-sth.scretary@gmail.com

Rainfall data for April 2014

The precursor to the monsoon season in 2014 has been even bleaker than in 2013 with the   Pre-Monsoon season (March-May according to IMetD) bringing hardly any rainfall to Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim. In April 2014, Kalimpong saw only two rainy days and though Sikkim seems to be getting more rainfall than Darjeeling district, the region as a whole has received less rainfall than last year for the same period (shown in slide 1&2). Let us hope that the 'rain gods' are kinder in the months that follow.

Rohan Rao,

Secretary,STH,

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling,

Email - sth.secretary@gmail.com