Jammu and Kashmir joins hands with UK space agency to help deal with flood risks in the state

The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is joining hands with a UK-based Space Agency for a project on 'Impact Based Flood forecasting using Earth Observation based Information', office of Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha said on Friday. In a series of tweets, the LG's office explained that the move will be useful for contingency planning and the response mechanism in flood situations.

"J&K is joining hands with UK Space Agency's programme for 'Impact Based Flood forecasting using Earth Observation based Information' project. Impact based forecasting is next step of flood forecasting services," the LG's office tweeted. It further said that the initiative is to provide a framework to predict fluvial flood risks, in terms of expected loss of life, injuries to people, building collapse, infrastructure disruption and economic damage.

"Having impact based forecast of flood risk will be useful for efficient, effective contingency planning and swift evaluation of severity of necessary response." Jammu and Kashmir is prone to floods. Parts of the Union territory witnessed massive flooding in September 2014. The rising water levels in the Jhelum breached the embankments at many places and caused massive devastation inundating parts of Srinagar and many other towns in the Kashmir Valley causing losses to life and property.