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

STH Activities - Dec2015 and Jan2016

Prof Subrat Kar of IIT Delhi who is a part of the Ulster University team visiting Kalimpong in early Mar2016 was with us for 3 days to reccee landslide areas of Darjeeling district in advance and to report back to the team. We showed him most of the landslide areas around Kalimpong town and also Balasun landslides in Kurseong.

I attended the Meeting of the Mountain states (MoMs) in New Delhi on 11Dec2015, representing the Darjeeling Mountain Initiative which is a part of the IMI. Placed below is the press release from the MoMs meet :-

The Integrated Mountain Initiative held its annual Meet of the Mountain States in New Delhi on 11 December 2015 celebrating International Mountain Day, at the VishwaYuvak Kendra, Chanakyapuri. The Meet followed up on the successful conclusion of the 4th Sustainable Mountain Development Summit held in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in October 2015. The central theme of the Summit was Disaster Risk Reduction, which is particularly crucial for the mountains which face increasingly frequent large- and small-scale disasters such as earthquakes, flash-floods, and landslides. Natural disasters result in loss of lives, and set back the economy of the region by destroying assets, interrupting school education and livelihoods.

To follow up the recommendations made during the Summit, the Meet of the Mountain States was held in the format of a workshop which discussed the implementation of these resolutions, by identifying the implementing bodies, liaison mechanism, resources required, and timelines. The Meet was attended by Lt Gen Marwah and Dr Kamal Kishore, Members of the NDMA, as well as representatives from the NDRF, the State and Disaster Management Authorities from Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh. Grassroots organizations working on disasters on the ground, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, Delhi and SaveTheHills, Kalimpong participated.

The Chief Guest, Mr KirenRijiu, Hon’ble Minister of State for Home Affairs, recently declared the Champion of DRR for the Asia-Pacific region by the United Nations, gave rousing address espousing his concern about disasters and offering his full support for mitigation and preparedness measures. Mr PD Rai Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) Sikkim updated the gathering about his participation at the UNFCC COP 21 in Paris, particularly the keen interest in supporting measures for disaster risk reduction in mountain states shown by Margareta Walhstrom, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the UN for Disaster Risk Reduction.

IMI is a collective initiative of a wide range of stakeholders from across the Indian mountain states, who gather together to deliberate and advocate mountain-centric development policy.

Prof Sarah Besky, an anthropologist and author from Brown University and her husband Al (also an anthropologist) were in Kalimpong for a day to learn more about STH activities and also to do field work on landslides.
Spent much of the day discussing impact of landslides in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya and also went out for field work on the western and easterns faces of the Kalimpong ridge.

3 Gap students from Colby College (USA) were with us for 3 days on environmental /landslide hazard studies. While they were here the horrible fatal landslide occurred at Rangpo. We were able to see first hand the impact on the unfortunate victims and the community at large.

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