{"id":197533,"date":"2026-03-31T17:38:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/?p=197533"},"modified":"2026-03-31T17:38:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:38:57","slug":"five-himalayan-glacial-lakes-in-iiojk-face-very-high-flood-risk-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2026\/03\/31\/five-himalayan-glacial-lakes-in-iiojk-face-very-high-flood-risk-study.html","title":{"rendered":"Five Himalayan glacial lakes in IIOJK face \u2018very high\u2019 flood risk: Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-197534\" src=\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/03\/JK-CM-IN-ASSEMBLY.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/03\/JK-CM-IN-ASSEMBLY.webp 800w, https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/03\/JK-CM-IN-ASSEMBLY-331x220.webp 331w, https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/03\/JK-CM-IN-ASSEMBLY-707x470.webp 707w, https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/03\/JK-CM-IN-ASSEMBLY-768x511.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>Srinagar:At least five glacial lakes in the Himalayas in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have been identified as having \u201cvery high susceptibility\u201d to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), placing over 2,700 buildings and key infrastructure at potential risk downstream.<\/p>\n<p>According to Kashmir Media Service, the disclosure was made by the National Conference-led IIOJK government while replying to a question in the Legislative Assembly in Jammu. It referred to a recent scientific study conducted by the Department of Geoinformatics, University of Kashmir and published in the Journal of Glaciology.<\/p>\n<p>The study analyzed 155 glacial lakes using hydro-geomorphic indicators such as lake expansion rate, dam stability and surrounding environmental conditions. Based on this assessment, five lakes, Bramsar, Chirsar, Nundkol, Gangabal and Bhagsar, were categorised under the \u201cvery high susceptibility\u201d class, indicating a significantly elevated risk compared to other lakes in the territory.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers warned that a potential GLOF event\u2014a high-magnitude flood triggered by the sudden failure of a glacial lake\u2019s natural dam\u2014could have serious downstream consequences. The study estimates that around 2,704 buildings, nearly 15 major bridges, key road segments, and at least one hydropower project fall within possible impact zones.<\/p>\n<p>However, the government stressed that such classification does not mean an imminent threat, but indicates a higher likelihood of outburst only under specific triggering conditions such as intense rainfall, rapid snowmelt, or seismic activity.<\/p>\n<p>Highlighting gaps in accurate risk estimation, the study said that precise assessment of GLOFs requires reliable data on glacial lake volumes, which can only be obtained through field-based bathymetric measurements\u2014 finding out depth and topography of water bodies\u2014currently unavailable for most Himalayan lakes. It added that work in this direction has already been initiated by researchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Srinagar:At least five glacial lakes in the Himalayas in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have been identified as having \u201cvery high susceptibility\u201d to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), placing over 2,700 buildings and key infrastructure at potential risk downstream. According to Kashmir Media Service, the disclosure was made by the National Conference-led IIOJK &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":197534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-occupied-jammu-and-kashmir"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/03\/JK-CM-IN-ASSEMBLY.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197535,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197533\/revisions\/197535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}