Back to news
2 Jan 2015 | News

Promoting regional efforts to reduce flood vulnerabilities

1 min Read

70% Complete

ICIMOD, in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), organized the eighth Regional Steering Committee (RSC) meeting for the HKH-HYCOS project. This final SRC meeting of the current phase was held from 22 to 24 September 2014 at the ICIMOD headquarters in Kathmandu. Participants from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan as well as the WMO, Government of Finland, Finnish Meteorological Institute, ICIMOD, and international experts reviewed the project progress and endorsed a project proposal for the next phase, focusing on delivering lifesaving flood warning messages to vulnerable communities.

The HKH-HYCOS project is working to establish a regional flood information system in the HKH region in close collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the six regional partner countries namely, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. More specifically, the project seeks to reduce flood vulnerability in the Indus and Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basins by minimizing loss of lives and livelihoods. To that end, it works to strengthen regional cooperation for sharing flood data and information among the member countries. The project is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Finland

The project has upgraded 37 hydromet stations in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan. These stations can now automatically observe rainfall and water level measurements. The project has established web-based regional and national flood information systems for sharing real-time data and information for reducing risks. The project is also piloting a regional flood outlook model using Mike 11 hydrological software. Apart from real-time hydromet data from the 37 stations upgraded by the project, freely available rainfall forecast data is being inputted into the flood outlook model to add value and improve accuracy of the model. In order to sustain the initiative, the project has focused heavily on enhancing partner organizations’ technical capacity in flood forecasting and communication, and sought public private partnerships, especially with telecom operators, for disaster risk reduction.
In view of the imminent funding shortage between the end of the current phase and the next phase, RSC members have committed to supporting some of the project activities through their national budget.

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up

related contents

Continue exploring this topic

28 Jan 2016 KSL
China, India, and Nepal Keen on Creating a Trans-boundary UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Kailash Sacred Landscape

There is interest in creating a transboundary.United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site (UNESCO WHS). in the ...

26 May 2015 News
Indian farmers meet local entrepreneurs in Dadeldhura

ICIMOD and the Central Himalayan Environmental Association (CHEA) organized a five-day visit for the farmers/ beekeepers and the staff of partner organization ...

9 Nov 2016 News
Regional Workshop on ‘Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) in the Context of REDD+ in the Hindu Kush Himalayas’

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s (ICIMOD) Regional REDD+ Initiative organised the regional workshop ‘Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) ...

9 Mar 2015 News
Improving Rapid Response Mapping and Information System

One of the main challenges for countries prone to disaster events, such as Nepal, ...

17 Feb 2015 News
Improving Water Management through Satellite Remote Sensing Applications

At the inaugural session, Kamran Ali Qureshi, Federal Secretary at the Ministry of Science and Technology, emphasized ...

6 Feb 2015 Cryosphere
Master Programme Thesis

Florencia Matina Tuladhar completed her thesis on “Determination of factors influencing recession ...

26 Feb 2015 News
Partners review progress of Koshi Basin Programme at IGSNRR, Beijing, China

The workshop was jointly organized by IGSNRR and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain ...

Community-based flood early warning: First national-level hands-on training in Pakistan

In collaboration with the Pakistan Meteorological Department, WWF-Pakistan, and Burraq Integrated ...