Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.
NH9.12 | Natural Hazards, Vulnerabilities, and Risks in the Himalayan Region
PICO
Natural Hazards, Vulnerabilities, and Risks in the Himalayan Region
Convener: Roopam ShuklaECSECS | Co-conveners: Ugur Ozturk, Ankit Agarwal, Wolfgang Schwanghart, Kristen Cook
Hydrometeorological and geomorphological hazards account for 45% of the fatalities and 79% of global economic losses. Exacerbated by high seismic activity and rugged terrain, the Himalayan landscape is particularly susceptible to generating these events, which often transform into cascading hazards—an initial event causes a downstream hazard chain, e.g. glacial lake outburst floods to debris flows. These hazards interfere with increasing population pressure and expansion of settlements along rivers and new infrastructure developments such as roads and hydropower projects. Rising temperatures and changes in weather patterns in the wake of global warming likely elevate risks from hazards such as landslides, glacial lake outburst floods, riverine and flash floods. The complexity of these hazards and their underlying processes demand scientific efforts and approaches from multiple disciplines.

Multidisciplinary approaches and methodologies are important to holistically estimate and predict hazard events and interactions of multiple hazards, and to understand how vulnerable societies cope and respond to these hazards in the Himalayan region.
This session aims to bring together expertise on approaches, methods, and data to advance the understanding of the impacts and changes in the extremely high mountain landscapes, with a particular focus on the trends of hydro-geomorphological disasters on the Himalayas and their societal impacts.

We welcome contributions from research topics (but not restricted to):
-hydro-geophysical modeling (landslides, glacial lake outburst floods, riverine and flash floods)
-extreme event modeling
-remote-sensing-based observations
-risk/vulnerability assessment
-theories and models of reducing vulnerabilities and adaptation to natural hazards
-innovative data approaches to integrate natural and social science perspectives
-recovery to natural hazards, in particular, usage of longitudinal data methods