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As part of the national survey to prevent the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has started surveying the Eastern Himalayas to map all glacial lakes in the country and assess feasibility of installing early warning sensors and other mitigation measures. The agency is conducting surveys in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, the two key areas of the eastern Himalayas along the Chinese border.
Expert teams have spread out to conduct a survey and study at six high-risk glacial lakes in Tawang and Dibang Valley districts of Arunachal Pradesh, which shares a 1,080 km border with China. There are reports of more than five bridges being washed away due to a glacial lake outburst from Sangnga Nehgu Lake in Tawang District. It is also the first such study of glacial lakes in the border state.
Sikkim has also sent an expedition of 32 experts to five endangered glacial lakes: Gurudongmar A, B and C, Sakho Chu and Khangchu, all in Mangan district, which borders Tibet.
The experts will survey the lakes from August 28 to September 14 at an estimated cost of Rs 32 lakh.
The expedition is led by State Secretary for Science and Technology Sandeep Tambe along with experts from six different departments of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) under the Land Revenue Department, Mines and Geology, Water Resources, Forest, Science and Technology and research scientists. from Sikkim University.
The expedition will also be assisted by the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) with a combined manpower of 56 persons, including drivers and porters…
“We will be doing very high-tech surveys to understand the geology of the glacial lake, understand the behavior of the glaciers, study the stability of the slopes and the chances of avalanches and GLOF. This will be a survey at an altitude of 18,000 feet .Once our study is completed, we will plan the mitigation plan,” said Sandeep Tambe, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Sikkim.
The previous expedition was conducted by the NDMA and experts from Switzerland before the South Lhonak lake eruption in Sikkim in 2023.
