ISRO's contributions to disaster risk reduction go beyond launch vehicles and communication satellites. Illustrate with reference to recent studies on Himalayan hazards.

Q. ISRO's contributions to disaster risk reduction go beyond launch vehicles and communication satellites. Illustrate with reference to recent studies on Himalayan hazards. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

India's space programme is increasingly a disaster-risk-reduction (DRR) instrument: through remote sensing, hazard forensics and baseline mapping, ISRO now shapes preparedness in the fragile Himalaya, as its recent work on cryospheric hazards demonstrates.

Hazard forensics: reconstructing events - ISRO scientists reconstructed the 5 August 2025 Dharali flash flood (Uttarkashi) using high-resolution digital elevation models, multi-temporal imagery and video records, tracing ridge-to-valley hazard propagation [1]. - The study attributed it to collapse of an exposed ice patch in the nivation zone of the Srikanta Glacier, ruling out extreme rainfall — light to moderate rain preceded the event [1]. - This identified a new hazard class — cryo-hydrological hazards under deglaciation — showing small ice instabilities can rival large glacial lakes in risk [1].

Baseline mapping and monitoring - Satellite time-series revealed significant expansion of Himalayan glacial lakes since the 1980s, the evidentiary base for national GLOF policy [5]. - ISRO has mapped over 2,000 glaciers and thousands of glacial lakes in the Ladakh region for disaster-management use [5]. - Under the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) — a NAPCC mission — space-based data feeds continuous ecosystem-health assessment [3].

Early warning and operational support - The National GLOF Risk Mitigation Programme (Arunachal, Himachal, Sikkim, Uttarakhand; ₹150 crore) relies on satellite-identified 189 high-risk lakes for automated monitoring and lake-lowering works [2]. - NRSC/Bhuvan platforms supply near-real-time flood and hazard imagery during the response phase [4]. - The Dharali study's key recommendation — pre-event detection of exposed ice patches — offers an early-warning indicator where none existed [1].

ISRO has thus moved from launcher and transponder provider to the scientific backbone of India's DRR architecture. The way forward lies in institutionalising satellite-derived cryo-hazard indicators within NDMA and State authorities, embedding them in land-use regulation in hill districts. This would align India's Himalayan preparedness with the Sendai Framework's emphasis on multi-hazard early warning.

(~320 words)

Sources: 1. Ice-patch collapse and early-warning implications from a Himalayan flash flood: emerging cryo-hydrological hazards under deglaciation — npj Natural Hazards — Dharali 2025 reconstruction, Srikanta Glacier ice-patch collapse, absence of extreme rainfall, cryo-hydrological hazard concept, early-warning recommendation 2. PIB — Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Mitigation — National GLOF Risk Mitigation Programme, 189 high-risk lakes, ₹150 crore, four States 3. DST — National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system: Mission Document — NMSHE under NAPCC, continuous Himalayan ecosystem-health assessment 4. NRSC/ISRO — National Hydrology Project, Bhuvan portal documentation — Bhuvan/NRSC geospatial platforms for flood and hazard information 5. PIB — Impact of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods — satellite-observed expansion of Himalayan glacial lakes; glacier and glacial-lake inventories for disaster management