Experts to gather online today to explore early warning technologies for Himalayan disaster resilience

KATHMANDU: Experts from Nepal and around the world will gather online today for a crucial webinar on how enhanced data, monitoring, early warning systems and frontier technologies can build resilience against natural disasters across the Himalayas. The event will commence at 1:30 pm Nepal Time.

The event will address how advanced tools can mitigate future losses, following an initial session on the physical science, climate attribution and cascading hazards behind the Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi Climate Catastrophe of 2026.

The Climate Risk and Resilience Lab (CRR Lab), NAXA, Creasion Nepal and the Nepal Climate Centre are jointly organising the online event, titled "Data and Frontier Technologies for a Safer and More Resilient Himalaya: From Early Warning to Loss & Damage Assessment".

The panel will look into avalanche and rockslide alerts, monitoring for glacial lake outburst floods and extreme mountain floods, crowdsourced humanitarian mapping and artificial intelligence-assisted damage evaluations. Participants will also discuss converting science and technology into actionable early warning and response strategies.

Dr Dharam Raj Uprety, Chief Executive of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), will deliver the keynote address, titled "From Early Warning to Loss and Damage: Nepal's Way Forward". Er Sanjeeb Baral, Executive Director of the Centre of Hydrology and Water Resources Research, is scheduled to provide special remarks.

Moderated by Uttam Pudasaini, Co-Founder of NAXA and DASTAA, the session will feature a distinguished international panel. The speakers include Thomas Stucki from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Switzerland, Stefan Schneider of CSD Engineers Switzerland, Rebecca Firth of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, Jonas von Wartburg from Geoprevent and Dr Ashok Dahal from the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

Those interested can register online to participate in the webinar.