ITANAGAR, Aug 4: After the recent report of threat of an outburst flood in the Siang river because of the formation of a lake in Bome county in Tibet due to earthquakes, the disaster management department here wrote to the National Disaster Management Authority, ministry of home affairs (MHA), to verify the report.
The MHA in turn wrote to the ISRO in Hyderabad to verify the fact, and in the meantime the department also kept in touch with the ISRO.
Disaster Management Secretary Dani Salu informed that the ISRO conducted “intense research” and shared its findings with the state government.
As per the ISRO, the lake is located more than 200 kms from the Indian boundary. The ISRO also carried out and analysis of the post-disaster (27 July, 2020) and pre disaster (14 January, 2020) Sentinel-2 (10 m) data of the landslide area.
Based on its study, the ISRO said that the estimated discharge of water as of now is not very high.
“Computed peak flood (823 m3/s) is very less compared to the flood discharge in Brahmaputra when it enters India. Increase in lake water spread in future may create a threat to the immediate downstream side.
“It is desirable to monitor the lake using temporal satellite data until normal river flow is restored,” the ISRO scientists noted.
Meanwhile, not taking any chances, the disaster management department is writing to the deputy commissioners of Upper Siang, Siang, West Siang and East Siang districts, informing them about the set protocols that they have to follow in case of any such eventuality.
“The villagers are also requested to be alert but not panicky. The ISRO team is being requested to monitor the lake and the river flow through the satellite,” said Salu.
