The death toll due to the flash flood that hit Sikkim has touched 19, with another 100-plus still missing, even as the disaster has put the spotlight on a study that says three million Indians are at risk of experiencing flooding in the near future.
Casualties in the Sikkim floods include six Indian Army soldiers. Meanwhile, a Times of India report puts the death toll at 38. Simultaneously, the search operation to locate missing people is going on.
The authorities are on high alert as the Shako Cho glacial lake near Lachen in Mangan district shows signs of bursting, which could result in further tragedy.
According to the Guwahati-based Defence PRO, the Indian Army is providing assistance in terms of food and medical aid, and extending communication facilities to civilians and tourists stranded in North Sikkim.
"The search for the missing Indian Army soldiers continues, with the search focussing on the downstream areas of Teesta Barrage. At the site of the incident at Burdang near Singtam, the army vehicles are being dug out and stores are being recovered. Additional resources in terms of teams of TMR (Tiranga Mountain Rescue), tracker dogs, and special radars have been brought in, to assist in the search operations," the Defence PRO told IBNS.
Indian Army troops of Tri Shakti Corps have been able to account for 1,471 tourists present in the areas of Lachen/Chatten, Lachung and Chungthang. With the weather improving on October 6, there may be a window of opportunity for evacuation of the stranded tourists by helicopters. Rescue is being planned jointly by the Sikkim government, Indian Army, and Indian Air Force.
A survey is being carried out by all concerned agencies to assess the flood damage and also plan restoration of road connectivity.
Sikkim's glacial lake outburst was previously predicted
Fifteen million people around the world, including 3 million in India, are at risk from flooding caused by glacial lake outburst, with just four countries accounting for more than half of those exposed, a study had predicted earlier.
An international team of scientists, led by Newcastle University, had produced the first global assessment of areas at greatest risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) and identified priority areas for mitigation.
The research team looked at 1,089 glacial lake basins worldwide and the number of people living within 50km of them, as well as the level of development in those areas and other societal indicators as markers of vulnerability to GLOFs. They then used this information to quantify and rank the potential for damage from GLOFs at a global scale and assess communities’ ability to respond effectively to a flood.
The results highlighted that 15 million people live within 50km of a glacial lake and that High Mountain Asia (which encompasses the Tibetan Plateau, from Kyrgyzstan to China), has the highest GLOF danger, with 9.3 million people potentially at risk. India and Pakistan have around 5 million exposed people – about one third of the global total combined.
The research, published in Nature Communications, also highlighted Peru as one of the four countries, along with India, Pakistan, and China, that account for more than half of the number of people worldwide exposed to potential danger from glacial lake flooding.
What are GLOFs?
Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) occur when melting glacier-formed lakes burst open due to excessive water accumulation or triggers like earthquakes, causing destructive flash floods downstream.