Study warns of glacial outburst risk to buildings, bridges from 5 Kashmir lakes: Omar

SRINAGAR: Five lakes in the Kashmir Valley have high susceptibility to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), posing a threat to 2,704 buildings, 15 major bridges, road stretches, and a hydropower plant in their immediate downstream areas, a study by the University of Kashmir has found.

Citing the study, CM Omar Abdullah, who also holds the disaster management and relief portfolio, told the J&K Assembly Tuesday that there is a need for continuous monitoring of these high-susceptibility lakes through remote sensing and targeted field assessments, as well as the installation of effective early warning systems.

However, the CM said, a lake classified as highly susceptible does not mean it is currently unstable. He said it only means it may be more prone to an outburst compared to others if specific triggering conditions occur. “This does not imply that the lake is currently unstable or actively breaching or likely to fail in the immediate future,” Omar said in his written response.

The study, conducted by researchers from the department of geoinformatics, has analysed 155 glacial lakes in the Kashmir Himalaya. Of these, Bramsar and Chirsar in Kulgam district; Nundkol and Gangabal in Ganderbal district and Bhagsar in Shopian district, have been categorised as having “very high susceptibility” compared with others in the region.

Omar said accurate risk assessment of glacial lake outburst floods in the Kashmir Valley, including estimates of flood magnitude, velocity and warning time, requires reliable information on glacial lake volume. For this, he said, researchers at the department of geoinformatics have procured high-precision, powerful tools, including robotic echo-sounding boats, with support from the union ministry of earth sciences, to know the water volume of the lake.

Using this facility, he said, in-depth surveys of high-risk glacial lakes in the western Himalaya are planned for 2026.
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