Leveraging Geo Spatial Technologies for Disaster Risk Reduction and Building Resilient Communities in Mandakini Valley Uttarakhand

Abstract

The Himalayas are considered as the youngest mountains in the world. These are highly newlinetectonically active. This Himalayan region experience high tectonic activity, have steep newlineslopes, variable altitudes, with highly uncertain climate making the region essentially newlinevulnerable to various hazards. It is vulnerable to small ecological changes and hence any newlinesmall disturbance in the mountain ecosystem triggers a disaster. In recent past, region has newlinewitnessed several geo-hazards like landslides, debris flows, flash floods, earthquakes, newlineavalanches, glacial lake bursts and extensive rainfall which cause massive disasters in the newlinearea that lead to heavy losses to lives and property every year. newlineAs stated in the United Nation International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) , newline there is no such thing as a natural disaster , it is only natural hazards which gets newlineconverted to disasters. Disasters often follow natural hazards . Although damage to newlineproperty cannot be avoided, loss of life can be prevented if disasters can be managed newlinemuch more effectively by implementing efficient disaster warning systems, evacuation newlineprocedures and use of integrated GIS, Space, IT, and communication technologies. In fact, newlinethe overall success of Disaster Management lies in how to reduce disaster impact and how newlinefast authorities manage to bring life back to normal. newlineMany a times, it has been observed that one hazard triggers another hazard as well. With newlinenon-availability of integrated platform and situational awareness, huge losses towards life newlineand property are reported every year. Hence, to build resilient communities, in the newlinepresent research embodied in this thesis, it has been demonstrated as how to leverage newlinegeo-spatial technologies along with open data and live feeds from disparate sources to newlineperform multi-hazard risk assessment and zonation in the Mandakini Valley. Maps newlineprepared in the study were overlayed with demography and socio-economic profile of the newlinevillages and settlements in the study area to generate ...