Back to news
3 Jun 2016 | News

Enhanced Flood Forecasting Capacity in Bhutan

1 min Read

70% Complete

Bhutan has received additional support in enhancing its flood forecasting capacities through developing Bhutan’s national flood forecasting services from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). In collaboration with the Department of Hydro Met Services (DHMS) Bhutan, and the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) (India), ICIMOD trained thirteen hydrologists on using Mike 11 hydrological and hydrodynamic models for developing flood outlooks and flood forecasts. The training was held in Thimphu, Bhutan 2–6 May 2016. The effort will contribute to improving the pilot regional flood outlook for the Ganges-Brahmaputra river basin developed by ICIMOD with support from the national hydromet authorities of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The pilot system has been operational since the flood season of 2014.

Conducting hands on training to the participants

The training focused on providing hands-on experience on tools and concepts used in developing Mike 11 model flood forecasting. Participants were provided experience on:

Trainees practiced collecting data and developing the model for the Sunkosh River Basin of Bhutan. The trainees also successfully simulated the effect of high inflows from glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) events that could arrive at the upstream of the Pho Chhu and the Mo Chhu rivers, the main tributaries of the Sunkosh.

Conducting hands on training to the participants

The training was conducted as part of the HYCOS project to support disaster prevention and flood management in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. The project promotes the timely exchange of flood data and information within and among the participating countries and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Finland until December 2015. ICIMOD has continues to support the programme in 2016 for building partners’ capacities.

Karma Tsering, Director DHMS, said the National Weather & Flood Forecasting System at DHMS has the potential to produce useful weather and flood forecasts and provide warning to the public and multi-sectoral stakeholders. The information generated in Bhutan will also benefit the lower riparian countries.

ICIMOD provided the Mike 11 software to DHMS and helped the trainees install the software in their flood forecasting centre. ICIMOD and DHI have committed to continue their support to DHMS through the process of developing and improving Bhutan’s national flood forecasting services.

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up

Related content

Continue exploring this topic

15 Nov 2016 News
Developing an Avenue to Strengthen Community Interactions and Engagement for Conservation and Development

It has been agreed upon that a Community Information Resource Centre (CIRC) will be established in Wa San Dum, a ...

23 Jun 2016 News
Cryosphere Data Release

Open access to high-elevation meteorological data and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) data from the Himalayas Meteorological data is scarce in high-elevation ...

Greening Barren Land: Facilitating Irrigation and Agricultural Activity in Upper Hunza, Pakistan

WWF-Pakistan plans to experiment with solar pumps and hydro ramp pumps, and install drip irrigation equipment and sprinkles to pump ...

11 Aug 2015 News
Stakeholders discuss way forward for adaptation programme

Representatives of the promoters, partners, and stakeholders of the Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Programme (HICAP) met in Delhi from 17-19 June 2015 ...

27 Oct 2016 News
Upper Indus Basin (UIB) Network Panelists Highlighted the Importance of Meaningful Collaborative Research in UIB

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan, the World ...

7 Dec 2018 DFAT Brahmaputra
Benefit Sharing from Hydropower Generation in South Asia

These studies were conducted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan; People’s Science Institute (PSI), Dehradun, India; the South ...

24 Jul 2019 Cryosphere
Reassessing Tsho Rolpa glacial lake

Tsho Rolpa is a large, potentially dangerous glacial lake in Nepal that has been the subject of extensive research and ...

6 May 2016 News
Promoting Bio-briquette in Pakistan

Mudassar ul Mulk is a bio-briquette expert trained by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and works in ...