Back to news
18 Feb 2015 | News

ICIMOD and Aaranyak monitor and improve the CBFEWS in Assam, India

A technical team comprising ICIMOD and Aaranyak staff revisited the installation sites for the community-based Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) in Assam in August 2014. The FEWS had been installed along the Jiadhal and Singora rivers in the Eastern Brahmaputra Sub-basin in coordination with the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Dhemaji in Assam, under the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) component of the Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Programme (HICAP). Each of the eight installations was carried out after conducting a risk, hazard and vulnerability assessment of the areas.

1 min Read

70% Complete
A delegation from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) visited ICIMOD to discuss current and prospective areas for collaboration with ICIMOD.
The team assessed and modified the existing equipment at the installation sites in Dihiri and Kekuri villages in Dhemaji district. They further augmented the existing equipment with a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) enabled unit, so that flood alerts could be shared immediately via Short Messaging service (SMS).  Additionally, the team trained the Aaranyak field staff and local caretakers in its use and maintenance.
The day after the installation, a warning message was received from the system  in the middle of the night.

As part of the field visit, the team also visited downstream communities and interviewed local people regarding the communication networks and effectiveness of the installed FEWS. The local people said that the information received from the CBFEWS is very useful to them for preparing for a flood.

Following the successful installation and testing of the FEWS, the team briefly met with the deputy commissioners and district project officers for disaster management of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts. They delivered a brief presentation on the community-based flood early warning system (CBFEWS) piloted in the Jiadhal River and Sigora River, and proposed institutionalizing the system under the District Disaster Management Authority. The deputy commissioners of both districts showed keen interest in the idea.

The DRR component of HICAP has been continuously monitoring and augmenting the Community-based FEWS in the two rivers and is considering extending the network across other rivers in the eastern Brahmaputra River Basin, which is prone to incessant flooding.

2
3
1. The FEWS modified by the team is now in place Photo: Sundar Rai/ICIMOD 2. Taking stock of the FEWS equipment prior to installation Photo: Sagar Bajracharya/ICIMOD 3. The team gives a presentation on FEWS to the deputy commissioner of Dhemaji district Photo: Narendra/ICIMOD

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

Emissions Study to Differentiate Characteristics of Paddy and Wheat Crop Residue Burning

Mehra collected wheat residue samples from the same districts, Kapilvastu and Rupendehi, where she had collected the paddy residue samples ...

1 Jun 2018 KDKH
Knowledge hub proposed for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in the Koshi basin

As part of a wider effort between Nepal, India, and China to strengthen disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the Koshi ...

14 Jun 2018 REDD+
ICIMOD supports ICFRE in developing State REDD+ Action Plan for Uttarakhand, India

Countries seeking funds from the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme need to develop a National REDD+ ...

29 Jun 2017 Climate change
REDD+ Experts Meet at the Ministry of Climate Change in Pakistan

Broadly, the meeting paved the way forward for creating synergies and future lines of action in the context of REDD+ ...

6 May 2016 News
Promoting Bio-briquette in Pakistan

Mudassar ul Mulk is a bio-briquette expert trained by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and works in ...

31 Aug 2017 News
ICIMOD and UCAS Symposium on Resilience in the HKH at International Congress of Ecology

Eklabya Sharma, the Deputy Director General of ICIMOD, delivered a keynote speech at the conference. Sharma talked about the importance ...

High Yielding Variety of Oat Grass to Address Fodder Crisis in the Kangchenjunga Landscape, Bhutan

The Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KLCDI) is a transboundary initiative which covers an area of 25,085.8 square kilometres, ...

8 Mar 2017 Blog
Kalchebesi’s Real Entrepreneurs: Women Spearheading Adaptation to Climate Change

Many experts and researches have claimed that women suffer the impacts of climate change more than men do. This is ...