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

A more efficient brick sector through collaboration and mitigation actions

At the second Policy and Advocacy Network Asia (PAN) meeting on 20 and 21 June 2019, ICIMOD provided government representatives ...

10 Sep 2017 News
Pakistani Officials Support Early Flood Warning System Implementation in Gilgit Baltistan

To manage hazards in the region, World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Pakistan and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with ...

29 Jan 2016 News
Developing PES Policy

ICIMOD has been actively engaged in Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) policy formulation support with Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation ...

15 Mar 2016 KSL
Thematic Tourism Routes Foster Regional Collaboration and Prosperity

During the 23rd edition of the South Asia’s Tourism and Travel Show (SATTE) 2016 by the United Nations World Tourism Organizations ...

1 Jul 2016 Himalica
Myanmar Villagers Learn to Make Bio-briquettes

To address rural energy problems, twenty seven villagers from Kyang Taung, Kyang Nur, Pantin, Thyetpin, Antpet and Zeyar, Myanmar were ...

16 Apr 2015 News
Studying rock and sediment samples of Koshi Basin

Samples of rock and sediment from the high and middle altitude mountains of the Koshi River Basin will ...

22 Apr 2015 News
Differential GPS training in Kathmandu Nepal

  Thirteen participants from Nepal attended a one day training on differential GPS training organised by the Cryosphere Initiative of the ...

30 Nov 2015 News
Training for Partners in Bhutan

A three-day training for Bhutanese partners on vulnerability assessment was conducted ...