Commemorating Prof Leszek Starkel's interactions with STH in Darjeeling (21Nov2008) and Kalimpong (25Nov2009)

Prof Leszek Starkel (1931-2021) was a legend.
He was an eminent geomorphologist, a leading figure in Polish geomorphology over many decades and also a person of wide international reputation.
I came across him almost accidentally. Some one had given me a book by him on 'Rain,Landslides and Floods in the Darjeeling Himalaya' sometime in early 2008 and in it was his email address. So I shot off an email to him saying SaveTheHills was very interested in his work and would like to meet him if possible and promptly forgot about it, never expecting a reply.
Many months later I got a reply from the great man that he was arriving in Darjeeling in Nov2008 and I could actually meet him. I jumped at the offer and requested that he be our keynote speaker in a seminar on 'Landslide Hazards' we would organize in Darjeeling on his arrival.
He agreed and we organized what must be the first seminar on 'Landslide Hazards' in Darjeeling on 21Nov2008. A year later we organized another talk by him in Kalimpong on 25Nov2009 which was also our last since his visits to India stopped due to illness.
Later I found that he had been coming to India very regularly after the Oct 1968 disaster to study among other things the Ambootia landslides.
Prof Starkel passed away last year on 06Nov.
The images below are testimony to our brief but wonderful interaction with Prof Leszek Starkel.

STH finds a place in Prof Leszek Starkel's memoirs:

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

STH Activities : Participating in a CARITAS (India/Germany) workshop on Disaster Risk In Darjeeling (12Aug2022)

 On 12Aug2022, STH had the pleasure of attending an in person workshop at Sinclair's Hotel
Darjeeling on Disaster Risk. The meeting was  organized by Anugyalaya DSSS along with CARITAS (India/Germany).

Praful Rao
with
Shreya Gurung
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

SaveTheHills (STH) activities in 2021 : Raising awareness about Hazards and the Environment by organizing and participating in Webinars, in person Seminars and a Training Program

 One of the main objectives of STH has always been to raise awareness among the general public and also among government officials and others about the hazards and environmental issues of our region and over the years STH has organized and participated in hundreds of workshops, training programs and seminars - all of which are documented in this blog.
In 2021 also we followed this routine except that because of COVID -19 most of our programs had to be online webinars.

Webinars and a Training Program with National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)

 

Webinars with Kalimpong Science Centre

In person Seminar on 'Disasters & Women' and webinar (with DHI)

Besides this STH, being a part of the Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI) was involved in the many activities involved in hosting SMDS X which is the annual flagship event of the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI)

Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Our activities in 2018

We regret not being able to publish these accounts of our activities in time. As explained elsewhere in the blog, it was only because we, today use other social media platforms which reach out more effectively and expeditiously to the community at large.

While updating our activities in 2018, I am glad to inform you that we have also updated  & published RAINFALL RECORDS for some major towns in the Darjeeling-Sikkim for the whole of 2018. Please feel free to use all data/photos in this blog freely and without asking for our consent.

With regard to rainfall, quite clearly the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya (except for North Sikkim) went deficient in rainfall in 2018 and as such we had no major landslide activity in this region. Hence, there is no reference to occurrence of fresh landslides in 2018 in this blog.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

STH Activities in April 2018

In addition, the Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative which is the West Bengal state chapter of IMI were called for a meeting by the Principal Secretary (GTA) at Lal Kothi (Darjeeling) on  19April2018 to discuss the development and protection of Sandakhphu and the Singalila National Park.
SaveTheHills along with a number of Darjeeling based NGOs form the Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

STH activities : 07Sep-15Sep2016

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH activities : Working with children - 07Sep2015

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Heavy rain alert 22Aug2014 : more rain due

Excerpt from IMetD All India Weather Bulletin of Thursday (21Aug2014 - night) Meteorological Analysis (based on 1730 hours IST)

- The axis of monsoon trough at mean sea level continues to run close to the foothills
of Himalayas.
- The trough extends from Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim to northeast Bay
of Bengal across Bangladesh between 2.1 and 4.5 km above mean sea level persists                           
                        _________________________________________
All this, in short means, is that a band of low pressure is almost stationary over the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya and is resulting in continuous moisture feed to this area - which means more heavy rain in this region. 

The clouding in the IR satellite imagery of 0500h IST is consistent with this and at 0630h (22Aug2014) it is raining  cats and dogs here in Kalimpong.

Praful Rao,

Kalimpong,

Dist Darjeeling

Lucky number 7 : STH's 7th anniversary, this week.

This is our 7th year and considering the fact that the South Westerly monsoon has been mild  in SHWB (Sub Himalayan West Bengal) and Sikkim Himalaya this year, we should consider ourselves lucky. That said, below are some of our accomplishments over the years :

Achievements

• STH now has three documentary films based on landslide hazards. In 2009 we worked with the mass communications department of St.Josephs's College, Darjeeling and then in 2010 we made two documentaries, one with the Development and Educational Communcations Unit (DECU) of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and another with the Magic Lantern Foundation.                                                                                               

                                   

• As part of our effort to make communities aware, STH has now participated in and conducted more than 80 awareness programs/seminars and workshops in schools, rural areas and universities.

• In our Stormwatch series (since 2009) STH has reported the development and tracks of all major weather systems in the Bay of Bengal thanks to the IR imagery and information on several excellent websites using broadband internet; we sent out early warning emails when necessary.                                                                                                                                            
• We now have an automatic rain gauge in Mangan (North Sikkim) along with the three others in Kalimpong,Darjeeling and Kurseong. Monthly rainfall reports are published for these towns and few others (from www.imdaws.com) for those interested in the hydrology of this area.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
• Since 2007, most of the major landslides in the vicinity of the SHWB and Sikkim have been documented on our blog 'Visions of Hell' with probable cause and effect, in an effort to highlight the severity of this disaster form in this region. 


                                                              
• Members of STH met the honourable MP of Darjeeling Shri Jaswant Singh for the second time in 07Apr2013. In the discussion followed that day STH made certain suggestions and requests regarding the landslide sitiuation in the hills of Darjeeling which can be found here.                                                                                                                                                                                                 
• In Dec2012 , we had a senior geologist from the GSI (Geological Surveyof India)  Mr.Debashish Bhattacharya in Kalimpong for 10 days. It was our pleasure to have him with us whilst we did a recce of all the landslide sites in the vicinity of the Kalimpong Sub-division. Such visits if more regular will create a greater understanding of landslides and the hazards associated with them.                                                                              

      

• STH has also done a substantial amount of work in the field of CBDRM (Community Based Disaster Risk Management), in some of the major landslide prone areas in Kalimpong ( Chibbo/ Pashyor, Dumsi pakha , Dhobi Dara).
  Having watched the response to the 18Sep2011 Sikkim earthquake and the recent Uttarakhand disaster, we will have to intensify our work with the communities since they would largely have to cope with future disasters on their own at least for a limited time period.

            

                                   

• We successfully imported 15,000 saplings of non-aromatic Vetiver grass (very effective at controlling soil erosion ) and distributed it amongst 15 NGOs in the district.The results have been quite positive with 60% survival rate and we hope to go in for a much larger plantation in landslide prone areas in the Kalimpong sub-division in the future.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
• We have worked with the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) in conducting and coordinating training workshops (see here and here). Recently, we also did a workshop for the WB SDRF ( State Disaster Response Force ) in which we covered causes and effects of landslides, followed by field visit to landslide affected areas in Kalimpong.                                                            

           

• In 2009 STH won the Manthan award ( for best practices in e-Content and Creativity ) which includes all SAARC countries. This year we've taken a step further by being the only NGO from India to be listed among the Six finalists in InterAction's  " FEDEX Award for Innovations In Disaster Preparedness". On 12Sep2013 we took part in a webinar in which all six finalists gave short presentations on their innovation and how it benefits the targeted community, excerpts from that webinar can be found here.                                                                
   
• Our blog "Visions of Hell" has more than 570 posts, has been viewed more than 101,020 times by a world wide audience and is a mammoth resource and a historical archive on landslide disasters in the Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya.
  All data and material on our blog is available free of cost for non-commercial use.

Though the task ahead is daunting, STH is slowly inching towards its principal objective which is the prevention, mitigation and management of landslide hazards in the Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalaya.
By enhancing public / government awareness and building capacity we can increase the resilience of our mountain communities towards landslide disasters and learn to live better with a disaster form which is as old as the mountains. 

Rohan Rao,

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling,

rohan.rao1313@gmail.com 

Our 74rth one....

Ever since its inception in Sep2007, one of the primary roles of STH has been to raise awareness about landslides and the fragility of the mountain environment.
In so doing we have assisted various media organizations in making 3 documentary films on landslides and also participated or organized many awareness workshops and seminars on disasters and landslides, all over the country and at various levels starting from the grass roots to the national.
On 22Mar2013, we did our 74rth awareness program at the Kalimpong Child Development Centre which was attended by more than 80 parents and children from villages on the western face of Kalimpong and the program was well received.
I am glad to say that we have done so with very little funding but lots of goodwill and help from fellow NGOs, Government organizations and eminent scientists and resource persons who have shared their knowledge in our platforms without charging a dime.
Our entire work in this regard has been well documented in this blog and we hope to continue this important task with gusto in the future.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong

STH activities : An awareness program with school students and commencing "STH stormwatch"

After a bone-dry winter when there was no rain at all, on 03Apr2012 due to an upper air cyclonic circulation east of Darjeeling district, we had a smattering of rain all over the region. The intense thunderstorm activity resulted in welcome showers to quell the dust and perhaps recharge thirsty aquifers.
STH has since 03Apr2012 commenced our "Storm Watch" wherein we watch the weather development in the Bay of Bengal (since we are about to enter the Cyclone Season) and also we have started recording the rainfall in the three major towns (Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong) with our Automatic Rainfall Gauges (ARGs)
Rainfall in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong on 03/04 Apr2012 :- 37mm, 6mm, 16mm respectively.


Praful Rao