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

Participating 'online' in 'National BrainStorming Network on Landslides' at BITS, MESRA - 16Mar2020

Even though I was invited to attend the above workshop at BITS, Mesra (Ranchi), because of the COVID19 problem, I cancelled my travel plans.
I could however deliver my entire presentation on 'Landslides Hazards - a silent disaster form', online to the many scientists available at BITS and I daresay it was well received.


Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling- SIkkim Himalaya

District Level Workshop organized by Dept of Science and Technology and BioScience, Govt of W Bengal, on Capacity Building under National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE)- 13Feb2020

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong District
Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya

Events of Note : Workshop on 'State of the Cryosphere in the Himalayas' (19/20Feb2018) and forthcoming workshop on Springshed Management (16/17Mar2018) at Gangtok, Sikkim

 You can read a press statement about the Cryosphere seminar here.
Water or the lack of it is perhaps one of the most important issues for us who live in the Himalayas. As such ACWADAM's forth coming 2 day workshop on conserving our springs should be of interest to all of us.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

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

Project SHAMROCC in Kalimpong

Project SHAMROCC, comprising a team of distinguished scientists from the UK and India was in Kalimpong briefly in the first week of Mar2016, with a view to carry out a feasibility study for landslide prediction in the Darjeeling Himalaya, which is one of the most landslide prone areas in the world.
One of the events that was organized during their visit here was a workshop where Dr David Petley, one of the world's leading scientists on landslide hazards gave a talk 'on 'Managing Landslides - Hazards and Risks in the Himalayas'.
We have finally managed to upload the entire workshop on Youtube in two parts for all to view and learn from.




My deep thanks to the SHAMROCC team for their visit here and to Mr Naren Tamang of KTv, Kalimpong for uploading the video.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

An event of Note (update) : Workshop in Imphal (Manipur) on 'Earthquakes and Landslides' (09-11Apr2016)

STH will be participating. See details here

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Events of Note : Workshop on 'Hydropower, Climate Change and Environmental Justice' in Kalimpong (08 & 9 Dec2015)

 Workshop on   
   
     'Hydropower, Climate Change & Environmental Justice                                 in the Eastern Himalaya'

Venue : Kalimpong Park Hotel

Dates : 08/09Dec2015

Organised by: 

Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India

Praful Rao,

Kalimpong,

Darjeeling district

                                

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

30Nov2013 - 02Dec2013 : FOSEP : Workshop on " Climate Change and Mountain Areas - Awareness, Adaptation and Sustainability"

STH attended a three day workshop organised by FOSEP ( Federation of Societies for Enviromental Protection) from 30Nov2013 - 02Dec2013 on "Climate Change and Mountain Areas" . The workshop focused primarily on issues plaguing the Sub Himalayan region with the most prominent figure amongst the speakers being Dr.PG Dhar Chakrabarti Executive Director National Institute of Disaster Management (Retd.) and Ex secretary of the NDMA ( National Disaster Management Authority) who gave a presentation on DRR ( Disaster Risk Redection) and CCA ( Climate Change Adaptation ). The Other topics covered were:

• Problems and potentials of medicinal plants and agriculture in the Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya - Dr.G.S Yonzone
• Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture in the Darjeeling SikkimHimalaya - Shri M.L Acharya
• Climate change and its impact on the tea estates of Darjeeling District - Dr. Abdul Hannan (Asst. Professor Sikkim university)
• Nature's retaliation - Dr. P.K Chhetri (Ex Joint Secretary West Bengal)
• Medicinal plants, enviroment, economic development and policies - Himalayan context -Dr. H.K Badola ( Sr. Scientist - Govind Ballabh Pant Institute Of Himalayan Enviroment and Development.)
• Rhododendron of the Eastern Himalayas - Dr K.K Singh ( Scientist - Govind Ballabh Pant Institute Of Himalayan Enviroment and Development.)
• Livelihood and Climate change - Dr Uttam Lal (Asst. Professor Sikkim university)   

We'd like to to thank FOSEP for inviting us to be a part of this very informative event.

Rohan Rao, 

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling,

Email - rohan.rao1313@gmail.com                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Excerpt from Indian Express : UNESCO may give 'endangered' tag to Darjeeling heritage line

The 132-year-old Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), the country's only railway line which is a World Heritage Site, may be labelled as an "endangered site" by the Unesco, if nothing is done by India soon.

Recently, the Unesco office in New Delhi had suggested to the Railways to send a senior official to its World Heritage Centre in Paris, France, to apprise its team that is concerned about the progress in restoration work. To be on the World Heritage List implies that the site needs to fulfil a certain criteria as mentioned in the Unesco World Heritage Convention.

Popularly known as the Toy Train, the DHR is a 78-km-long narrow guage line that connects New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in West Bengal. Built between 1879 and 1881, the line touches the maximum elevation of 2,200 metres, including Ghum, the highest railway station in India. The DHR received the World Heritage Site in 1999.

However, since 2010, the line has been facing disruptions. It was severely hit by the 2011 earthquake in Sikkim. Several assessments say the restoration work has been slow due to the apathy from both the Centre and the state.

In a letter to Minister of State for Railways, A R Chowdhury, Director and Unesco representative to India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, Shigeru Aoyagi, has said that the state of DHR is serious. "If no action is taken by the government of India to restore it urgently, there may be a chance that the Intergovernmental Committee of World Heritage Convention [may] advise to place the DHR in the list of endangered sites to provide focused attention for conservation," the letter stated.

Chowdury has been assigned to follow-up on this issue since the DHR is in his home state.

The Unesco has also started talks with the Heritage directorate of the Railway Ministry for a technical cooperation to develop a Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan. If everything goes well, the plan may be ready by August.

Source

Comment by Praful Rao
On 31Jul2012, I spent an entire day at the Tindharia workshop area, checking the drainage flow in the vicinity of the Tindharia DHR workshop and interacting with locals and DHR authorities. The captioned photographs above are from that visit.
My personal (gloomy) assessment based on the lack of progress of any landslide prevention measures there till date is that if we have prolonged and heavy rainfall in the area during the ensuing monsoons, parts of the heritage workshop will certainly crumble into the massive landslide which has already damaged the structure.
Sadly, the truth is that having wasted the valuable dry season (0ct2012-Apr2013) when major slope stabilization works should have been undertaken, we have the south westerly monsoons knocking at our doorstep once again (June first week). 
And it is common knowledge here that except for fire-fighting measures no serious river training, drainage correction or slope stabilization work can be undertaken in the next 4-5 months of rains as such we will have to wait until after the monsoons (ie till Oct2013) for any major stabilization work to be initiated.
And that, may just be a little too late.
Praful Rao,
Kalimpong

Upcoming events : Workshop on Climate Change in Darjeeling (17-18Dec2012)

 

The Federation of Societies for Environmental Protection (FOSEP), Darjeeling in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, New Delhi are organizing a  

"Workshop on Climate Change and Mountain Areas: Awareness, Adaptation and Sustainability"

AIM : This Workshop aims at providing a forum for exchange of information, knowledge, experiences and data related to climate change, good practices and policy initiatives across the Himalayan region. The objectives are to assess the level of awareness, adaptation and other experiences among various segments of the society and livelihood related activities. It will be held in a workshop format where three main presentation of 20 minutes each will be made in each session by the three Panelists and other will share their experiences and experiments as discussants.

Date : 17 & 18Dec2012
Venue : May Fair Hotel Resort, Darjeeling


I am glad to state the STH will be participating in the workshop.


Praful Rao