Early warning system at Ghepam Lake: Tech-driven alerts to help Himachal respond faster to glacial lake flood threats

Special secretary, disaster management Pushpendra Rana on Friday, said, “The state is focusing on technology-driven early warnings, faster emergency responses and financial assistance for recovery and reconstruction following repeated natural disasters.”

He said the recent incident in Nepal underlined the need to focus more on preparedness. “Several glacial lakes have been identified as potential high-risk locations in Himachal Pradesh by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and other agencies. We are already working on four lakes where the possibility of high-risk GLOF events has been identified,” Rana said.

Ghepan lake, located at an altitude of 4,070m, is located approximately 14km above Sissu, with the potential downstream flood path extending for about 90 km through Udaipur to the district boundary. The lake is considered a ticking time bomb considering its expansion from 36.5 hectares to 101.3 hectares in just 13 years.

Describing the Ghepan lake installation as the first of its kind in India in terms of its advanced automation, integration, supercomputer-based analytics and mobile alert connectivity, Rana said it is a significant step towards strengthening disaster preparedness in Himachal Pradesh, where landslides, cloudbursts, flash floods and other extreme events had become recurring challenges.

Rana said the early warning system was an advanced, integrated and automated arrangement comprising three independent components designed to monitor changes in the glacial lake and surrounding environmental conditions and transmit alerts to authorities.

“It comprises a floating buoy deployed in the water, an automatic weather station on the shore and a glacier vision unit equipped with two cameras. The floating buoy continuously monitors changes in the water and transmits data at intervals of 10 minutes under normal conditions. In an emergency, the system is designed to begin transmitting information within 30 seconds, enabling authorities to detect sudden changes in the lake,” he said.

The automatic weather station records 14 environmental parameters, while the two-camera glacier vision unit continuously monitors changes in the lake and its surroundings.

“All three systems are interconnected through a supercomputer-based analytical platform. Mobile alerts can provide information within one to five minutes, enabling us to identify the location of an event while sitting here and alert the disaster management machinery immediately,” he said.

He said the system had been developed with contributions from scientists at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, with support from the State Disaster Management Authority, the state administration, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the NDMA.

According to Rana, the system was designed to remain operational for around 15 to 20 days on battery power, even under cloudy conditions.