Back to news
10 Jul 2018 | CBFEWS

Local Communities Take Ownership of Flood Early Warning System

At the onset of the 2018 monsoon, a community in Shrikhandi Bhittamore in Bihar, India, raised funds to repair a community-based flood early warning system (CBFEWS) that had been damaged along the Ratu River near the Nepal–India border. The funds were raised by Yuganter, a local NGO, and community representatives led by the Mukhiya of Shrikhandi, Purnima Mishra. The system was repaired by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Sustainable Eco Engineering (SEE), in partnership with Yuganter.

0 mins Read

70% Complete
A team from SEE restoring the system in Shrikhandi Bhittamore

ICIMOD, partners, and local governments have come together to save lives from flash flooding by installing eleven such community-based flood early warning systems (CBFEWS) in nine tributaries of the Bramhaputra, Indus, and Koshi rivers in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.

A CBFEWS provides at least four hours of lead time for vulnerable communities to respond to approaching floods. The systems, which rely on technology and human operators, have saved lives and property and established goodwill between upstream and downstream communities otherwise unknown to each other. During the 2017 monsoon floods, CBFEWS helped save 17 children on along the Koshi River, in Nepal and India.


A Yuganter representative handing over the amount to SEE-ICIMOD representatives as Purnima Mishra observes

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 content

Continue exploring this topic

12 Oct 2015 HKPL
Pakistani students learn about permafrost and glacier monitoring

A two day workshop on permafrost and glaciers was held 15-16 September at Karakoram International University (KIU) in ...

22 May 2015 News
Team Kathmandu inspires

‘Tracking and Sensing through Android Robotics’ from Kathmandu’s 2015 NASA SpaceApps Challenge was named the 'Most Inspirational' in Global Competition ...

8 Apr 2016 News
Strengthening Flood Risk Management in Bihar

The Expert Consultation Workshop on Improving Flood Risk Management in Bihar was organised by the Water Resources Department (WRD) of Bihar 18-19 ...

28 Aug 2023 News
Highlights from the 2nd meeting of the National Coordination Committee of India

On Thursday in New Delhi, India’s Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and […]

4 Aug 2022 News
Strengthening capacity for disaster risk reduction and management in the hydropower sector

The Hydropower Transboundary Working Group (TWG) under the Koshi Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Hub (KDKH) focuses on assessing multi-hazard vulnerability ...

28 Sep 2015 News
Investigating Lemthang Tsho (Lake) outburst in Bhutan

Early in the evening on 28 June 2015, a yak herder ...

29 Dec 2015 Himalica
Workshop on ‘Empowering Women as Agents of Change’ Held in Tsirang Dzongkhag, Bhutan

Himalica, together with the Tsirang Dzongkhag, organized a two-day workshop on ‘Empowering Women as Agents of Change’ in Tsirang, Bhutan. ...

Addressing water stress in Ramechhap

Ramechhap District in Nepal is plagued by acute water paucity. Desertification and haphazard development activities have caused traditional ponds and ...