India intensifies plans to curb flood threats from Himalayan glacial lakes

The recent glacial lake outburst flood in Nepal has renewed focus on India's preparedness for similar events, given the presence of roughly 200 high-risk lakes in the Himalayan region. A government inventory counts about 7,500 glacial lakes, with 10% located in Sikkim and 25 classified as very high-risk. The Ganga river basin alone contains 4,700 lakes, covering a catchment area exceeding 2.5 lakh sqkm, suggesting a single breach could cause massive damage.

India experienced a major incident on Oct 3, 2023, when a rock collapse in South Lhonak Lake generated a 20-metre wave that damaged hydro-power infrastructure and settlements downstream. In reaction, a high-level coordination committee headed by the prime minister's principal secretary was created, and Rs 150 crore were allocated to the National GLOF Risk Mitigation Programme for four Himalayan states. The programme, which tracks 195 at-risk lakes, aims to speed up assessment, monitoring, early warning, mitigation and community awareness as a national-security priority.