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Mongabay is an environmental science and conservation news service.
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In an unprecedented development that India is the first country to operationalise, The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services has now developed a real time tsunami prediction system that will be able to predict risk to coastal areas, height of waves that can hit them and even pinpoint vulnerable buildings.
While some observers have blamed the collapse of a dam in southern Laos last month, which killed dozens of people and displaced many more after heavy rainfall destroyed it, on faulty construction, others are pointing to climate models that predict heavy rainfall events will increase in intensity as a result of higher greenhouse gas emissions.
The India Meteorological Department is developing a Flash Flood Guidance System to predict the threat of a flash flood all over India. It will alert citizens and disaster relief forces, preventing loss of lives and damages worth billions of rupees. IMD’s upcoming system is important to India because nearly 12% of its landmass is prone to floods and river erosion.
Researchers have mapped the plant diversity of the Sikkim Himalayas on the basis of geography and climate data to create a ‘geodiversity index’, a tool for disaster risk reduction that informs scientists of which areas have the healthiest ecosystems. Healthy and well-managed ecosystems can reduce disaster risk by acting as natural buffers or protective barriers.
Last week, northern India was hit by a severe dust storm killing over 120 people and injuring at least 300 across several States. Experts warn that the severity and frequency of dust storms are expected to rise in years ahead due to rising global temperature.
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The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.
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