With retreating glaciers, extreme weather events, unregulated construction, and haphazard settlements, natural hazards are turning into deadly human disasters in Uttarakhand. A new report by ClimateTrends warns that without immediate, coordinated action, the frequency and severity of Himalayan catastrophes will only escalate and suggests the development of a multi-hazard early warning system which uses best practices from around the world.
The report, Enhancing Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Resilient Settlement in the Himalayan Region, notes that Himalayan disasters are rarely ‘natural’. They are, in fact, a climate-development-disaster nexus. Rising temperatures amplify hazards. Infrastructure expansion increases exposure. Weak governance reduces resilience.
Recent tragedies such as the August 2025 flash floods in Dharali village and earlier tragedies such as the 2023 South Lhonak glacial lake outburst that destroyed Sikkim's Teesta III hydropower dam are examples of how fragile ecosystems, changing climate patterns, and poorly planned development are now interacting in a devastating manner.
A stakeholder consultation in Dehradun, during which the report was released, emphasised that people are now occupying fragile places. Rivers do not encroach on human space, but the opposite.
Numbers tell the story
Heavy and frequent rainfall across the Himalayas has increased by 10-15 per cent. In 2023, Uttarakhand faced over 500 landslides. Infrastructure development had increased to cater to the state’s population, which has risen to 11.9 million from 8.2 million in 2001. For example, national highways have tripled from 1,075 kilometres in 2003 to 3,664 kilometres in 2024.
Such development has extracted an enormous cost. Extensive road cutting, tunnelling, and slope destabilisation have disrupted natural drainage systems, increased the sediment load of rivers, and amplified the risk of landslides and flash floods.
The Char Dham highway expansion, for example, has been directly linked to increased slope instability across multiple districts. The widening of the highway led to ‘cake cutting’ of hills, which meant there are no slopes to stop the fall of rocks and boulders during a landslide.
The report suggests a comprehensive, multi-hazard Early Warning System (EWS) for the Himalayas. Such a system will integrate climatic, hydrological, and geospatial data with community-level response mechanisms. It will include settlement regulation, risk-sensitive urban and rural planning, and behaviour change. Another key aspect should be the use of nature-based solutions, such as forest and wetland conservation.
The goal should be to formulate a Himalayan Master Plan that allows for development such that the risks of disasters are reduced while climate adaptation and resilience are promoted. Such a plan should balance risk, development, and ecological security.
The report draws from international best practices that can be adapted to the Himalayan context. Such practices include:
Japan: Localised rainfall thresholds, four-level alert system, municipal-level evacuation authority
Switzerland: Daily avalanche bulletins, automated debris-flow sensors, strict hazard zoning (red/blue/white zones prohibiting/restricting construction)
Norway: A unified multi-hazard portal (Varsom.no) which offers colour-coded warnings that are accessible to the public and authorities
Peru: Palcacocha Lake managed through controlled drainage, automated monitoring, and SMS-based community alerts
Bhutan: Thorthormi Lake project, which combines engineering interventions with community-centred early warning and cross-border cooperation
Action plan
The proposed action plan has both short and long-term measures. The first includes focus on immediate life-saving interventions: deploying low-cost sensors for rainfall, soil moisture, and lake levels; establishing mobile-based alert systems in local languages; and implementing seasonal relocations from the highest-risk zones during monsoon months.
Long-term structural reforms include creating an integrated multi-hazard Early Warning System spanning the entire region, enforcing strict no-build zones with planned relocation programs, and developing climate-smart livelihoods to reduce migration pressures.
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The report also calls for the setting up of a Himalayan Risk Council to coordinate efforts and eliminate overlapping responsibilities among agencies.
It also recognises that technology alone cannot solve the crisis. It speaks of a ‘perception-action gap’—while most households recognise climate changes like irregular rainfall and temperature shifts, these perceptions rarely translate into actions. Rural women, who bear primary responsibility for agriculture and household chores, are excluded from decision-making and thus particularly vulnerable.
The report’s vision is ambitious: zero preventable disaster deaths by 2030. It seeks to pave the way to build a resilient Himalayan region where everyone, from residents to tourists and from drivers to pilgrims, receives reliable, understandable warnings that can lead to automatic, trusted actions to save lives. |
