STH activities: A joint NIDM/STH program at Kalimpong on 'Institutionalizing Community Based Disaster Risk Management' between 22Nov-26Nov2021

 

Praful Rao,
SaveTheHills
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

Events of Nov2021 and STH activities

Raising awareness on extreme rainfall and environment thru social media
Nov2021 saw a number of storms develop in the Bay which resulted in extraordinary rains in Tamil Nadu

 

STH posts the above type of information in our What's App group 'Hazard Alerts' in a bid to raise awareness among readers and persons on social media about extreme rainfall and environment related issues👇

STH activity : Hosting the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS X) in Darjeeling and Kalimpong as a part of DHI
The Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI) is the state chapter of West Bengal in IMI (Integrated Mountain Initiative) and STH is a part of DHI.
DHI hosted the 10th SMDS between 18-20Nov2021 and later on 11Dec2021 (International Mountain Day) in Darjeeling and Kalimpong and being a part of DHI, STH took active part in  the summit.

Please read further on IMI and SMDS X here

Rainfall in Nov2021
No rainfall in Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Kurseong. Heavy rain was reported near Sevoke and Kalijhora on 22Nov due to which there was a blockage of NH10.
Jaldhaka reported 14.9mm rain on 27Nov2021

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

STH activities : Use of cell phones and social media in disaster communication - our experience in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya with a Whats App Group 'HAZARD ALERTS 1&2'

 

I have always been fascinated by the digital platform and its ability to record and disburse information quickly, accurately and efficiently to a large number of people and so I started this blog in Sep 2007 when SaveTheHills (STH) was formed. The blog has till date 375,052 hits & has a record of almost 12 years of landslide as well as rainfall activity of the region.
I have since made STH accounts in virtually all other major social media platforms ie Facebook, Instagram and Twitter though I have never got around to using them.
What I have used, however and which has become the STH flagship is our Whats App (WA) group 'HAZARD ALERTS' or HA which was created approx 5 years ago with the intent of disbursing heavy rainfall warnings and alerts to common people so that they become more aware and perhaps pass on the warnings to others as well.
I am glad to say that HA has become a very successful and disciplined crowd sourced platform and a knowledge bank in our region on many environmental issues of the Himalayas and messages and warnings in HA are read by a large number of people in our area even though WA only allows a maximum of 250 members.
Today HA has 244 members of which approx 25 or so are PhDs who can throw light on issues or queries which we layman have. Then we have a large number of NGOs and media people who not only pass warnings to others but also serve as vital communication links to inform about hazards, landslides, highway status and so on. We also have a large number of government officials who also participate in crowd source knowledge disbursement and information and last of all we have the lay people for whom HA was actually formed - so that they are better informed and aware of impending hazards, heavy rainfall periods and take action. All in all HA has been a wonderful experiment which has been very successful.
Since we were about to run out of space, we have formed Hazard Alerts 2  (HA2) which has approximately 50 members till now - mostly students. All posts from HA are simultaneously posted in HA2.
In Feb2021, we (my STH colleague Dr Nima Doma Lama and I) made a 5 min 'lightning presentation' on HAZARD ALERTS  for SHEAR which is available on YOUTUBE here. Do have a listen and we would be more than happy to share our experience with you.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

October 2021 Rainfall data of some towns in the Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas

 The deluge of 18-19October 2021

Landslide occurrences for the month of Ocober 2021 along the route from Kalimpong to Lava have been compiled in our presentation here

PS: Deep regrets for the delay in this report - it is just that STH uses another social media platform ie What's App 'Hazard Alerts 1 & 2' for reporting weather, rainfall, landslide activity and so on.
What's App is an extremely popular social networking tool in this part of the world and STH has been making use of it extensively for the last 4 years as a medium to report on disaster related information.

 

Shreya Gurung
Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalayas

Sept 2021 Rainfall data of some towns in the Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas

 

Sept 2021 saw a deficiency in rainfall in Sikkim and North Bengal whereas South Bengal had an excess

.

Landslide occurrences for the month of August (and the other monsoon months) have been compiled in our presentation here

PS: Deep regrets for the delay in this report - it is just that STH uses another social media platform ie What's App 'Hazard Alerts 1 & 2' for reporting weather, rainfall, landslide activity and so on.
What's App is an extremely popular social networking tool in this part of the world and STH has been making use of it extensively for the last 4 years as a medium to report on disaster related information.

 

Shreya Gurung
Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalayas

Aug2021 Rainfall data of some towns in the Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas

 

Most stations had excess rainfall in Aug2021 even though the overall rainfall from the beginning of the monsoons till August end showed deficiencies in several districts.

Landslide occurrences for the month of August (and the other monsoon months) have been compiled in our presentation here

PS: Deep regrets for the delay in this report - it is just that STH uses another social media platform ie What's App 'Hazard Alerts 1 & 2' for reporting weather, rainfall, landslide activity and so on.
What's App is an extremely popular social networking tool in this part of the world and STH has been making use of it extensively for the last 4 years as a medium to report on disaster related information.

Shreya Gurung
Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalayas

July2021 Rainfall data of some towns in the Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas

July2021 saw a very active monsoon in our region with excess rainfall being observed in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong while Gangtok and Siliguri had normal precipitation.
What was of concern was the manner in which we received this rainfall, and Kalimpong rainfall of July2021 is cited as an example.

Kalimpong rainfall (July2021)

At Kalimpong we had 3 major rainfall events on 07Jul (125mm), 10Jul (164mm) and 29Jul (232mm) and these three events averaging 3 days at the most, accounted for 84.6% of the monthly rainfall

Rainfall volumes and pattern of 10Jul2021 is shown below:

Undoubtedly, the most serious event occurred on 29July2021; being triggered by a low pressure area which had formed in the Bay of Bengal. The Infra Red cloud imagery of the date and time which was shared on WhatsApp with a number of groups and organizations is shown:

Rainfall intensities were above 100mm/hr for an hour withe the peak reaching 165mm/hr shortly after midnight on 30Jul2021:

The intense rainfall of 29/30July2021 coming down on saturated soil was bound to trigger landslides:

STH has documented the landslides which occurred in July2021 in our region to the extent possible - after doing a number of landslide tours and it is placed here

Praful Rao with Shreya Gurung
SaveTheHills
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalayas

Jun2021 rainfall data of some towns of the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya, STH activities and the Landslides

 Rainfall in Jun2021 was more or less normal  in most parts of Sub Himalayan W Bengal and Sikkim but the changing rainfall patterns (where we alternate from deficient rainfall and a huge excess within days), the rapid and often unplanned urbanization and the total disregard to constructing an efficient drainage system capable of handling the huge volumes of water which the rainfall brings contributed to a number of landslides in our region thru June2021.
                                 

 

Praful Rao with Shreya Gurung
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalayas