ChatGPT's essay on 'Hazards in the Himalayas'

Having heard so much about AI and ChatGPT, I decided to try it out and asked it to write a 1000word essay on 'Hazards in the Himalayas'.
Of course, I gave it many key words to keep it focused on the topic. I think it has done a marvelous job even though raw data is missing. Here it is:

"The Himalayan mountain range, stretching across several countries, is one of the most majestic and awe-inspiring natural wonders of the world. However, this magnificent landscape is also incredibly fragile and vulnerable to a wide range of hazards that pose significant risks to human life and livelihoods. From tectonic movements and seismic risks to heavy rainfall, extreme weather, and climate change, the Himalayas face a variety of hazards that require careful management and mitigation.
One of the most significant hazards facing the Himalayas is the risk of seismic activity. The region sits on a major fault line, making it highly vulnerable to earthquakes and other tectonic movements. The seismic risk in the Himalayas is further amplified by the fact that the mountains themselves are relatively new, having formed only in the last 50 million years or so. This means that the rocks and other geological features in the region are still relatively unstable and prone to shifting and moving over time.
The heavy rainfall and extreme weather conditions that are common in the Himalayas are also a significant hazard for those living in the region. In particular, cloud bursts, which can dump huge amounts of water in a short period of time, can lead to devastating flooding and landslides. These events are becoming increasingly common as a result of climate change, which is causing more extreme weather patterns in the region.
Human interference in the form of unplanned constructions, dams, and road construction is also a major hazard for the Himalayas. These activities can disrupt natural drainage patterns, increase the risk of landslides, and alter the fragile ecosystem of the region. In particular, the Uttarakhand disaster of 2013, which was triggered by unplanned construction and deforestation, highlighted the risks posed by such activities in the region.
Rapid population growth in the region is also creating new hazards for the Himalayas. As more and more people move into the region, there is increasing pressure on natural resources, leading to conflicts over water, food, and other basic needs. This is particularly true in areas where water sources are already scarce, leading to drying springs and water insecurity.
The Himalayas are also home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including endangered species such as the snow leopard and the Himalayan black bear. However, human-wildlife conflict is becoming increasingly common in the region as a result of habitat loss and other pressures. This conflict can lead to serious risks for both humans and animals, as well as damage to crops and other livelihoods.
Despite the many hazards facing the Himalayas, there are steps that can be taken to mitigate these risks and ensure the long-term sustainability of the region. For example, improved land-use planning and management can help to reduce the risks of landslides and other natural disasters. Similarly, efforts to conserve natural resources and protect wildlife habitats can help to reduce conflicts and promote greater ecological stability.
At the same time, it is important to recognize that the challenges facing the Himalayas are complex and multifaceted. Addressing these challenges will require a comprehensive approach that takes into account the diverse needs and perspectives of the region's many stakeholders. This means engaging with local communities, governments, NGOs, and other actors to develop strategies and solutions that are both effective and sustainable.
In conclusion, the hazards facing the Himalayas are numerous and significant, but they are not insurmountable. By working together to address these challenges, we can help to ensure the long-term sustainability of this remarkable natural wonder. Whether through improved land-use planning, wildlife conservation, or other measures, it is up to all of us to take action to protect the Himalayas and the people and animals who call it home.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalayas
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744

An event of Note : Call of the Mountains (on 30May2020 at 3.00pm IST)

The Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI) which is the W Bengal state chapter of Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) observes 30May each year as 'Call of the Mountains' day where we hold a day's event on an environmental issue of import for us living in the mountains.
This year we have invited Prof Dave Petley of Sheffield University, one of the foremost authorities on Landslide Hazards for a discourse on 'Landslide Risk in the Himalayas' 

Details
Date/time : 30May2020/ 3.00pm - 4.30pm IST
Platform : ZOOM
Link : https://bit.ly/36yBBJM

____________________________________________

The ZOOM workshop conducted beteen 3.00pm and 4.20pm went off wonderfully well with approx 74 people attending. Link is placed below:



Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Training program on DRR with Urban Local Bodies, organized by the District Disaster Management Dept, Darjeeling 04Mar2020

My talk on landslides and DRR was well received

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

The aftermath of 150mm of rainfall in 12hrs at Kalimpong (06Jul2019)

It started raining at around 1.00pm in Kalimpong yesterday and what started as a gentle shower intensified late evening (see intensity graph) and night and ended up dumping over 150mm of rain in parched Kalimpong over a 12hr period.
In this region rainfall peaks in July with a monthly average of 615.8 mm. 157mm of rain of (06Jul) therefore accounts for 25% of the monthly rain and is equal to approx 7 days rain all coming down withing a 12hr span.
The aftermath is shown in a photo essay below:

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

An interview with the Father of Landslide Hazards (India) : Dr RK Bhandari

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Global Fatal Landslide Database: Dave Petley

Flood scare in Sikkim and Kalimpong district (W.Bengal) - 17Jun2019

The Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya has thus far had very deficient in rainfall (see below)

 The SW monsoons finally arrived over the Darjeeling Sikkim Himalayas on 16Jun2019 almost 10 days late and we had relief from the heat here when there was a smattering of rainfall given by clouds shown:

Rainfall figures for 16/17Jun2019 are given (source IMD):

So I was rather surprised when we started getting flood alert messages from Sikkim on 17Jun afternoon on WhatsApp, that due to a 'cloud burst' in North Sikkim, the level of the Teesta river was rising dramatically and parts of Singtam (Adarsh Gaon), a business town one hour short of Gangtok and other low lying areas along NH10 were in danger.

Having kept a close look on the weather and rainfall of the region, which was nowhere near extreme, I personally feel that the dams at Chungthang and Dikchu in Sikkim had released large volumes of water after the rains which resulted in the Teesta river level rising sharply. I am aware that most of these dams are run-of-the-river dams, yet considering the steep descent path of the Teesta river and its turbulence, I do believe the volumes of water released caused the flood-like situation.
In this regard, I refer readers to the Youtube video below:

Updates on the above event:
Rainfall data of 17/18Jun (0830hrs to 0830hrs) available now:
Sankalan: 140mm
Mangan: 70mm
Chungthang: 50mm
(Source IMD)

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

STH activity : Participating in CASA's Program on 'Climate Change and Impact on Lives and Livelihoods' :19Mar2019 (Darjeeling)

Major issues highlighted:

·       Critical water security problems in the entire Dooars and mountain regions.

·       Food Security in the mountains almost non-existent with the rural youth not interested in farming due to low yield, crop disease, water shortage, human- wildlife conflict in the backdrop of climate change.

·       Total focus on cash crops in mountain agriculture has led to a decline in cultivation of traditional crops such as millet, barley and even vegetables.

·       Decline in cash crops in the mountains: traditional crops such as ginger, oranges and even cardamom have almost disappeared with newer crops such as kiwi fruit, coffee likely to replace them. The moot question is when? –with the most important functionaries ie the relevant government departments being obsessed with other issues. The only viable cash crop in the mountains being broomsticks today.

·       While MNREGA project generates some employment for families, it has totally failed in promoting skills among the rural hill folk.

·       Tea production and the quality of tea has declined both in the Dooars and Darjeeling hills due to migration, triggered by low wages and tea garden companies slowly withdrawing benefits such as uniforms, homesteads, subsidized kerosene and power bills.

·       Large scale unemployment in the Dooars belt leading again to migration and human trafficking by organized gangs.

·       Regular flooding with no little or no warning in the Alipur Duar region due to rain in the mountains of  Bhutan which charges the Torsa and other rivers quickly and suddenly.

·       Rampant child labour in the Dooars with children working in factories in Bhutan on very low wages (Rs 50/day).

·       Extreme and erratic rainfall and temperatures compounding problems.

·       Emerging and powerful role of the water vendor in Darjeeling town in a scenario where the burgeoning population, declining rainfall has resulted in demand for water far outstripping supply. Little or no heed however, being paid to the quality of water being supplied.

·       Child –centric DRR

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

SaveTheHills Activities Sep-Oct2018

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

SaveTheHills activities Jul-Aug2018

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

STH activities in May 2018 (Call of the Mountains -a DHI event in Darjeeling) -11May2018

Press coverage of the Seminar is here
Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI) is the West Bengal state chapter of IMI and 'Call of the Mountains' is an annual event of DHI.
SaveTheHills is a part of DHI along with several other NGOs of Darjeeling and Gangtok

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling -Sikkim Himalaya

Notice: STH blog resumes in Feb2019

It is with regret that I wish to announce that we were unable to continue the SaveTheHills (STH) blog after April 2018, having done so for almost 10years since STH was established in Sep2007.
The reason:-

• In our experience, STH has found that other social media platforms are today more efficient and 'user friendly' to disburse warnings and information.
• While blogging may have once been a wonderful tool, today STH operates a WhatsApp (WA) group called 'Hazard Alerts' (HA) which is a much more effective way of disbursing information and warnings.
• WA along with other platforms like FaceBook reaches out to wider audiences and very quickly while the blog maybe restricted to the more serious reader and for preserving data and historical facts.
  
  However, since all of STH history and some useful data is published in the blog, STH will again start re-publishing the blog while apologizing for the break.
  
  Having completed updating rainfall records from April2018 toJan 2019 we will now record significant events which were undertaken by us and our partners in 2018 - much of which was about raising awareness on DRR and environmental issues of the region
  
  
  Praful Rao,
  Kalimpong district,
  Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya

STH Activities : At Gangtok for the IRADe Workshop (06Feb2018) and the DHI meet in Darjeeling (09Feb2018)

Excerpt of Press Release
Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe) in collaboration with G B Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development (GBPNIHESD) and North-Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), with support from Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) under National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) has taken up a project to develop disaster resilience action plans for Gangtok city. To achieve the desired outcome of vulnerability assessments of the city, along with the development of disaster resilience plans and capacity building on disaster resilience, a “Multi-stakeholder consultation workshop” was organized on 06th February, 2018 at Summit Denzong, Renaissance Hotel, Gangtok.
This one-day event was attended by officials from various national as well as international organizations associated with disaster resilience such as Geological Survey of India (GSI)-Sikkim Unit; Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Government of Sikkim; State Remote Sensing Applications Centre, Sikkim State Climate Change Cell; Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Sikkim; Water Security & Public Health Department, Government of Sikkim; Transport Department, Government of Sikkim; Gangtok Municipal Corporation; Department of Geography, Sikkim University; Department of Geology, Sikkim University; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Central Water Commission (CWC); Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and local NGOs such as SaveTheHills and Helping Hands.
Shri Alok Kumar Srivasatav, Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim was the Chief Guest of the event. In his address, Shri Srivasatav expressed the need to shift from previous response oriented approach to disaster management to mitigation focussed efforts. He was glad to know that this was the first stakeholders’ workshop related to disaster management of Gangtok taking place in the city. He emphasized the need to adopt new technologies such as remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) for developing disaster resilience policies. He assured full co-operation from the state Government for the project.
Dr Ajit Tyagi, Former Director General of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and presently Senior Advisor, IRADe in his welcome address emphasized the need to shift from reactive approach to disaster management to proactive one. He praised the efforts of Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) in this direction. He stressed that engagement of civil society, Govt. officials and other stakeholders is necessary right from the very beginning so that the outcomes of the project are successfully implemented. The present workshop is an effort in this direction.
Dr Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director (ED), IRADe, highlighted the contributions by IRADe over the years in the Indian Himalayan cities. She presented the various reports published by IRADe documenting the rapid vulnerability assessment done for various Indian cities.
Shri Shakti Singh Choudhary, Mayor of Gangtok city, in his opening remarks, thanked IRADe, GBPNIHESD and NESAC for organizing the event. He added that the city has learned a lot since the 2011 earthquake and now there are more efforts being taken by various organizations for developing disaster resilience in the city. He welcomed the project and asserted that the organizations involved should also support in developing other city level plans for overall development of the city.
You can read about IRADe here

You can read about IMI here

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Event of Note : Stakeholders’ Workshop On 'Developing Disaster Resilience Action Plan through GIS and Prioritizing Actions for Natural Disaster Risk Reduction in Urban Agglomerations of Shillong and Gangtok', Date: 6th February, 2018

STH will attend as discussant.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

A day well spent (03Nov2017) : Field visit with Project 'LANDSLIP', at the CHIBO-PASHYOR landslide

Project 'LANDSLIP' was in Darjeeling in Jan2017 (see here).
I am glad that STH could meet them and Practical Action once again, this time in Kalimpong and spend the entire day with them. We started the day with a presentation on the landslide scenario on Kalimpong and more specifically the CHIBO- PASHYOR landslide and then carried out a field visit in this landslide area with local guides.
As stated by Dr George Adamson of the team, the project aims at developing landslide EW (early warning) methodology based on accurate prediction of heavy rainfall whereby mountain communities living in landslide prone areas could be alerted in time to take requisite measures to save lives.
The team had a strong presence of social scientists which is perhaps the right way to go, because strengthening community resilience and awareness is of utmost importance in any landslide disaster scenario.
LANDSLIP will be working in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya and the Nilgiris.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya

Insight : Disaster Threats (01/05/2017)

STH activities : 07Sep-15Sep2016

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH activities : At the Kohima Workshop on DRR and Climate Change : 07/08July2016

The workshop was organized by NSDMA, SDFN, IMI and supported by NECTAR
It was indeed heartening to see so many state government officials and line departments attending and actively participating in both the days of the seminar.
Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH Activity : Proposed Community Based DRR work at Tirpai Bazar (Wards No 6&7) in Kalimpong

STH has worked on DRR with rural communities earlier.
We intend to carry out DRR work in an urban environment in Tirpai Bazar (which is also where I live). Tirpai lies on the northern edge of Kalimpong municipal limits (see TOP Google Image) and comprises of Ward No 6&7. We estimate the population to be around 2500 (see CENTRE Image showing a very approximate map of the area of intended work).
We held the first meeting with community people at my home (BOTTOM Image) in Tirpai yesterday where I elucidated the hazards and risks we living in the Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya are exposed to and what an empowered community can achieve in DRR.
I vividly remember a major landslide near Tirpai in 1968 which killed more than 15 persons; last year too, 2 persons lost their lives close to Tirpai Bazar on 01July2015.
We have formed a core committee of 7 people of this area for taking the work forward and we will be taking help from the civil defense, State IAG and others for this work.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Climate Change (Input 1) : 2015, the hottest year on record - as per NOAA and NASA

Read full story here

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling