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

Weather Event : Hail storm in Darjeeling (31Mar2016)

In Kalimpong, where STH is based, the cumulonimbus clouds (top slide) brought in grouchy weather with a lot of lightning and thunder but surprisingly little rain.
IMetD has a weather warning in place for TS (Thunder Showers) and Hail for this region.
Though much of the chatter on social media was on how beautiful Darjeeling looked and ice-skating in Chowrasta, Darjeeling - what was missed was the damage to tin-roofed homes, the traffic jam in Darjeeling town when the schools gave over at around 3pm and perhaps the damage in the rural areas, which is not known at all.

Precipitation in Darjeeling : As per reports, 6" of hail along with 45mm of rain
                                       (between 1.30pm- approx 3.00pm)
Rain in Kalimpong : 3.8mm (between 1pm-3pm)
Rain in Kurseong : 16.6mm

Photo credits :
Compuset, Darjeeling
The Darjeeling Chronicle

STH Activity : Updated Kalimpong weather available 24X7 on the web from 2 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS)

Realtime Kalimpong weather is now available 24X7 and updated at every 60sec intervals from two AWS stations

• Station 1 - located at my residence at Tirpai (see here)
• Station 2 - located at Kalimpong Govt College (see here)

You can peruse thru a summary of the days weather on the same website and also get the forecast (though this may not be very accurate!)
At site, where the AWS are located, a much more detailed record of the data is available both on the computer and a console (with data logger) - see image of console above.
My thanks to Project Shamrocc for making this possible.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Project SHAMROCC in Kalimpong (29Feb-04Mar2016) - an event of note.

Prof David Petley has covered the technical aspects of the landslides in a series of articles posted day wise on his blog here.

About Project SHAMROCC (Sensing with High Accuracy in Mountainous Regions for Observations of Climate Change) involves participation of experts in various disciplines from the UK and India for the development of a Landslide Prediction System in the form of low-cost high density sensor networks and computer systems to be installed in specific landslide prone zones of Kalimpong.

Kalimpong was selected from among a number of areas for installation of the prototype equipment on the basis of historical landslides that have claimed lives/damaged infrastructure as well as on the availability of broad band internet in the close vicinity. 

SaveTheHills (STH), a Kalimpong-based NGO which has been working on landslide hazards for the past 8yrs actively collaborated with the project in this regard.

Further, the team installed two internet based automatic weather stations in Kalimpong which will provide real time weather data to SHAMROCC scientists both in the UK and India in order to observe, firsthand the effects of climate change and shifting rainfall patterns in the Darjeeling Himalayas. This AWS data on Kalimpong  is available here and is updated every 60secs.

It is hoped that the study will make landslide prediction feasible and accurate and the lessons learnt from this project can be applied to other regions including the UK as well.
Project SHAMROCC comes under the aegis of UKIERI (UK-India Education and Research Initiative) and is funded by the British Council.

My grateful thanks to the entire SHAMROCC team for their visit and the time that they spent in Kalimpong. It was wonderful.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

From the newspapers today : Landslide victims call a strike today in Mirik.

STH has reported on the landslides in Mirik here
Technically, as per IMD, 'March' heralds in the pre-monsoon season (Mar/Apr/May) when we will start getting our first rains.
8 months after the tragedy, it is pity that the victims of the landslides in Mirik have remained uncompensated and have to resort to a strike to highlight this issue.
What is sadder, is that with the WB State Assembly elections looming ahead, absolutely nothing is likely to be done till the monsoons hit us again around Jun2016.
The Telegraph has covered the story here.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH Activities (Working with Communities) :- CBDRM work in Tirpai, Kalimpong

I live in Tirpai, Kalimpong and after our first meeting on 31Jan2016 at my home, the core committee met in mid-Feb2016 following which we continued the CBDRM work at the Maitri Sangh Community Hall in Tirpai bazaar on 28Feb2016.
The WB Fire Dept responded enthusiastically with a lecture on 'Fire Awareness and Safety' which included a fire demo after which we showed a map of Tirpai with the vulnerable and safe zones.
We have drawn up a list of volunteers who will receive training in the future.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Darjeeling district.

My thanks to the WB Fire Dept, Kalimpong Station and Maitri Sangh (Tirpai, Kalimpong) for making the program a success.

We don't need natural disasters anymore. Human induced landslide in Gangtok (Sikkim) : 24Feb2016

Landslide location : Thakur Bari Mandir, Gangtok (Sikkim)
Date/Time : 24Feb2016/1850h IST
Rainfall : Nil
Casualties : Nil
Cause :Digging and land cutting in adjacent area during construction work resulted in wall collapse and landslide. 2 buildings vacated. Restoration work in progress.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Photo : Voice of Sikkim

Update : Ulster team visit to Darjeeling for 'Landslide Studies'

While referring to this report, the update on the visit is as follows :-

• A 9 member team (7 scientists from UK and 2 from IIT, Hyderabad) will arrive Kalimpong on 29Feb2016.
• The team leader is Prof Gerard Parr of Ulster University - the project being funded by the British Council.
• They are experts from different disciplines and includes Dr David Petley who is a world authority on landslides.
• They will be in Kalimpong for 3 days wherein they would visit a number of major landslide areas in the vicinity of Kalimpong town and also set up 2 AWS stations.
• An interactive session between and experts and designated public figures (includes a wide representation of people from the region) is scheduled during the stay.
• A press briefing is also planned.
  
  
  Praful Rao,
  Kalimpong,
  Dist Darjeeling

Climate Change (Input 2) - Insights from a recent paper : 'Anthropogenic footprint of climate change in the June 2013 Northern India flood'

 Synopsis of the Report :-

1. During 13 –17 June 2013, heavy rainfall occurred in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand and led to one of the worst floods and landslides in history, resulting in more than 5000 casualties and a huge loss of property. This event also affected other parts of India including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, as well as western Nepal and parts of Tibet.

2. In a study by scientists, meteorological and climatic conditions leading up to this rainfall event in 2013 and similar cases were analyzed for the period of 1979–2012.

• Using complex meteorological models to study natural and anthropogenic influences as well as the role of the long-term climate trends on rainfall in the region it was found that:-  Northern India has experienced increasingly large rainfall in June since the late 1980s.
•  The increase in rainfall appears to be associated with a tendency in the upper troposphere towards amplified short waves.
•  The phasing of such amplified short waves is tied to increased loading of green-house gases and aerosols.
•  In June2013, 60–90 % of the rainfall amount was attributed to post-1980 climate trends with another study revealing that though this rainfall was at least a century scale event, the probability for such an incident recurring has increased in the present climate compared to that of pre-industrial times.

3. The study also found that such heavy rainfall and widespread flood events have become increasingly frequent in northern South Asia :-

•  In July2010, an extreme rainfall event in northern Pakistan resulted in floods that killed about 3000 and affected around 20 million people.

• More recently (2–6 September 2014), some regions in India (Jammu and Kashmir) and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab) suffered extreme floods caused by heavy rainfall which killed more than 500 people.

4. The study found that increased levels of greenhouse gases and aerosols in the post-1980 period have caused changes in the upper troposphere and that as a result of anthropogenic climate change, the circulation structure has been modified in such a way that it significantly aggravates rainstorm occurrences in northern South Asia, hence increasing the severity of floods.
5. Also, the occurrence of this June 2013 event during pre-monsoon season in northern South Asia, along with the circulation and precipitation trends in June, calls for the adaptation of risk management strategies in the face of increasingly frequent and strong rainstorms outside the core monsoon months (July–August). Adaptation measures such as developing strategies and policies for flood management in the face of climate-related extreme events are urged.
6. In addition, the amplified upper-level stationary waves and associated dynamics, as revealed in this study, will need to be represented accurately in the forecasting tools revealed in the post-1980 trends is attributed.

The full paper is available here
For animation of the cloud movements of the 'Uttarakhand Cloudburst' see here

" It appears that the increase in aerosols due to pollution, combined with changes in the jet stream due to increasing greenhouse gases, have made June events like the 2013 flood more likely to occur since 1988."
- Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology, wunderground.com

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