India helping five nations develop Early Warning Systems (EWS): India Meteorological Department (IMD) chief

Posted 12 Apr 2024

2 min read

India is helping Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Mauritius to develop EWS to reduce loss of life and property due to extreme weather events.
- India's efforts are part of 'Early Warnings for All (EW4All)' initiative announced by UN in 2022.
EWS: An integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting etc. and processes enabling individuals, governments to take timely action reducing disaster risks.

About EW4All
- Aims to protect everyone from hazardous weather, water or climate events through EWS by end of 2027.
- Spearheaded by World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
- Calls for investments of USD 3.1 billion between 2023- 2027 to strengthen four pillars of EWS i.e.
  - Disaster risk knowledge.
  - Detection, observation, monitoring, analysis, and forecasting.
  - Warning dissemination and communication.
  - Preparedness and response capabilities.

Need for EWS
- Protect lives and livelihoods.
  - About 2 million deaths and economic losses of USD 4.3 trillion occurred during 1970 -2021.
- Improve preparedness and mitigate impact of natural hazards.
- Increasing disasters due to climate change necessitate EWS.
  - World is projected to face 560 medium- to large-scale disasters each-year.

Lack of co-ordination between data collection and warning dissemination centre.
Language barriers hamper communication of early warnings to people.

Integrate scientific and technological advancements with local, traditional, Indigenous and generational knowledge.
Improving data quality, ensuring access to data globally.

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