ICIMOD, in collaboration with Gilgit Baltistan Disaster Management Authority and Focus Humanitarian Assistance, is planning to pilot Community Based Flood Early Warning System (CBFEWS) in Gilgit Baltistan under the project ‘Agricultural Water, Energy and Hazard Management in the Upper Indus Basin for Improved Livelihood’. With that in mind ICIMOD organized a training event in Kathmandu from 1-6 March 2016. Two experts from WWF-Gilgit and Focus Humanitarian Assistance-Gilgit and a Damas (district Ghizar) community member learned about CBFEWS during the event.

The training began with lectures on CBFEWS and a physical demonstration of ICIMOD’s Early Warning System at the ICIMOD office. On day two, participants visited the Godavari Knowledge Park to observe the prototype EWS and understand its working principle. Their next visit was to the Ratu Khola river area in Mahottari district, where they observed a CBFEWS at work. They learned the working principles of different flood early warning systems at the Real Time Solutions (RTS) office and observed stream flow measurement at the RTS site in Roshi Khola, Panauti.

After the training, the participants, along with experts from ICIMOD, visited proposed sites for CBFEWS in Gilgit Baltistan, namely Bichar-Sher Qilla Valley and Damas Valley (Ghizar District). Focus Humantarian Assistance-Pakistan is preparing a feasibility report on these sites.

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