A ten-day training workshop on flash flood risk management in the Himalayan region has began at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu.
Twenty-two professionals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Pakistan are taking part with the support from the US Agency for International Development, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), Khaleej Time reported.
The workshop trainees would became familiar with the geographical and climatological process causing flash floods, social and technological aspects of disasters and different tolls for flash flood risk management including both community based and technology based approaches.
The Himalayas are one of the youngest mountain ranges on earth and are very much prone to natural disasters, high relief, steep slopes, complex geological structures with active tectonic process and continued seismic activities and heavy seasonal rainfall all combine natural hazards, especially water-induced disasters.
In the Himalayan region, flash floods can occur as a result of very intense rainfall outburst of glacial lakes and lakes formed behind landslide dams and rapid melting of snow and ice.