Guwahati: A study revealed that India has the biggest number of people exposed to floods from glacial lakes—up to three million—than any other country.
The study is the first global evaluation of places at highest danger of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) and it was conducted by an international team of researchers under the direction of academics at Newcastle University in the UK.
The work was released in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday. It asserts that over 15 million people worldwide are at risk of flooding brought on by glacial lakes.
More than half of the populations exposed to the world are concentrated in just four nations: India, Pakistan, Peru, and China, according to the researchers, who also highlighted priority mitigation locations.
India and Pakistan are the countries with the most vulnerable populations overall. Nearly three million and two million people or one-third of the entire world’s population, respectively. The survey noted that Iceland had the fewest population of all, with only 260 individuals.
Moreover, the study concluded that as the temperature warms, glaciers retreat because their glacial melt happens more quickly than new seasonal snow and ice can build up. A lake is created at the glacier’s front where the melting water has accumulated.
It should be noted that these lakes have the potential to suddenly rupture, causing a fast-moving Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) that can travel up to 120 kilometres from the initial site. GLOFs have the potential to be extremely destructive, causing considerable property, infrastructure, and agricultural land damage as well as fatalities.