CLIMATE HAZARDS : UTTARAKHAND (7 DISTRICTS) IS MOST VULNERABLE FOR HAIL STORM AND HEAVIEST RAINFALL

-By jay singh rawat

Climate Hazards and Vulnerability Atlas of India India Meteorological Department (IMD) monitors and provides impact-based early warning services for various meteorological disaster events at different temporal and spatial scales to support disaster risk reduction management. Climatic hazards are agents of disaster in terms of what they may do to human settlements or the environment. Potentially hazardous atmospheric phenomena include tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, tornadoes, drought, rain, hail, snow, lightning, fog, wind, temperature extremes, air pollution, and climatic change. Uttarakhand, a Himalayan state of India is categorised in the Climate Hazard Atlas as most vulnerable to hail storms and then heavy rains. The state of Uttarakhand is highly vulnerable to multi-hazards viz. earthquakes, flash-floods, landslides,  avalanches, Dam Burst drought too, but particularly Earthquake, as the state falls in the highest 28 seismic risk zones of the country i.e. Zone V and IV.

As a part of these services, IMD has now prepared a Web version of the Climate Hazards and Vulnerability Atlas of India for the thirteen most hazardous meteorological events, viz. Cold waves, Heat Waves, Flood, Lightning, Snowfall, Dust Storm, Hail Storm, Thunderstorm, Fog, Strong winds, Extreme rainfall, Drought and Cyclone that cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption or environmental damage. The web Atlas is depicted using Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and is made available in IMD, Pune website (https://www.imdpune.gov.in/hazardatlas/index.html).

The Atlas provides district maps on Hazard events and vulnerability for all the calendar months and at an annual scale. The Hazard maps are prepared based on the climatological data, census data on population, and housing density and using different statistical and mathematical methods. Climate vulnerability maps are prepared based on the disaster data from the annual publication of the India Meteorological Department “Annual Disastrous Weather Reports” for the climate hazardous events that cause casualties in terms of death and other losses. The percentage of districts and population affected by disastrous weather events in different categories of vulnerability scales based on the Normalized vulnerability index for eleven out of these thirteen climate hazards are given below using pie charts and a brief description of the thirteen hazardous events are below:

 

Hail Storm: 10% of the districts and 6% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (3% of the districts and 2% of the population are highly vulnerable) for Hail storm. The state of Uttarakhand (7 districts) followed by Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir (5 districts) are most vulnerable to Hail storm.

Extreme Rainfall: 46% of the districts and 44% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable. All the districts of the entire western coast, most of the districts of Assam & Meghalaya, Tripura, Kerala, and a few districts of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Uttarakhand have the maximum probable frequency of heavy rainfall events of more than 20 days during the southwest monsoon season.

Landslides: Over 1,100 landslide incidents occurred this year in Uttarakhand compared to 245 in 2022 and 354 in 2021. Thirty-nine people perished in landslide incidents in 2022, 48 in 2021, and 25 each in 2020, 2019, and 2018, as per data from the disaster management department.

Drought: 87% of the districts and 93% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (27% of the districts and 32% of the population are highly vulnerable). Madhya Pradesh is the most vulnerable state (19 districts are high to very high) followed by Uttar Pradesh (15 districts), Gujarat (14 districts), Karnataka (14 districts),

Thunderstorms: 42% of the districts and 35% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (8% of the districts and population are highly vulnerable) for Thunderstorms. Assam and UT of Jammu & Kashmir (12 districts each are high to very high), Tripura (8 districts) are most vulnerable.

Cold wave: 36% of the districts and 40% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (16% of the districts and 24% of the population are highly vulnerable) for cold wave. Uttar Pradesh (75 districts) is the most vulnerable state to cold waves.

 Floods: 30% of the districts and 41% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable, annually 6% of the districts and population are highly vulnerable. In the case of states, Assam (23 districts are high to very high) is the most vulnerable state for floods.

Dust storm: 15% of the districts and 19% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (2% of the districts and population are highly vulnerable) to Dust storms. States of Uttar Pradesh (3 districts are high to very high) and Assam (2 districts are high to very high) are the most vulnerable states to Dust storm events.

Cyclones: 14% of the districts and 20% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (4% of the districts and 7% of the population are highly vulnerable) for cyclones. Most of the coastal districts of east coast (Tamil Nadu:11, Andhra Pradesh: 9, Odisha: 6 and West Bengal: 3) are high to very highly vulnerable for Cyclone.

Heat wave: 13% of the districts and 15% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (4% of the districts and 7% of the population are highly vulnerable) for heat waves and the states of Rajasthan (15 districts) and Andhra Pradesh (13 districts) are the most vulnerable states for Heat Waves.

Fog: 8% of the districts and 7% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (2% of the districts and population are highly vulnerable) for the fog annually. In the month of December most of the districts of Delhi and a few districts of Uttar Pradesh; in January, most of the districts of Delhi, many districts in Uttar Pradesh and Tripura and a few districts in Haryana, West Bengal and Manipur are most vulnerable for fog.

Lightning: 6% of the districts and 4% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable in the case of lightning, annually 4 % of the districts and 3% of the population are highly vulnerable. State of Odisha (20 districts) ranked top in the most vulnerable states for lightning.

 Snowfall: 5% of the districts and 3% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable (4% of the districts and 2% of the population are highly vulnerable) for snowfall events. Union Territory of J&K and Ladakh (19 districts) and the state of Himachal Pradesh (8 districts) are most vulnerable to snowfall.

Wind Hazards: 44% of the districts and 46% of the population are moderate to very highly vulnerable. Most of the Coastal districts of Odisha, southern coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and northern coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, few districts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and NE states experience high extreme wind speeds of greater than 55m/s (50 years return period extreme value).