NO ARCHIVES Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Early Warning System GmbH FollowNEW DELHI, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Scientists and government authorities were working on an early warning system for glacial floods at a Himalayan lake in northeast India when it broke its banks this week with deadly consequences.
If fully operational, the warning system could have given people more time to evacuate, scientists said.
One scientist said glacial early warning systems can typically give residents a few minutes to an hour of notice.
Details of the Lhonak Lake warning system have not previously been reported.
"Such kind of events are so fast that even if we have some kind of early warning system ... we may only gain some minutes, maybe an hour," he said.
Persons:
Wang Chen, geoscientist Simon Allen, Kamal Kishore, Farooq Azam, Ali Withers, Gloria Dickie, Shivam Patel, Cynthia Osterman
Organizations:
Adarsh gaon, REUTERS, NEW, Reuters, University of Zurich, Disaster Management Authority, Indian Institute of Technology, Thomson
Locations:
Teesta, Singtam, Sikkim, India, NEW DELHI, Swiss, Lakes, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Shako Cho, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Delhi