One in four hydropower project sites along the Himalayan Rivers are likely to face severe damage from earthquake-triggered landslides, according to a research. #UttarakhandDisaster #earthquake @nivedita_Him @yamunajiye @Upadhyay_Cavita @Indian_Rivers @hridayeshjoshi
The research was conducted by researchers from the University of Potsdam, Germany, who compiled damages to 41 hydropower projects after Nepal’s 2015 #earthquake, and used that data to estimate earthquake-triggered damages to projects in other parts of #Himalayas. @yamunajiye
The model developed by the research team took into account the combined effect of ground shaking (Peak Ground acceleration) & river steepness (Mχ) and was applied to projects in Indian, Nepalese and Bhutanese #Himalayas.
@yamunajiye @hridayeshjoshi @nivedita_Him @Upadhyay_Cavita
The findings indicate that more than 10% of Himalayan rivers may be unsuitable for hydropower infrastructure given high probabilities of high co-seismic damages and ~25% of Hydropower projects are located along these reaches. #UttarakhandDisaster
#earthquake
The study points to an urgent need to re-evaluate hydropower development in the Himalayas. The model used in the study would also help in making a more accurate assessment of risks at locations for potential hydropower plants. #UttarakhandDisaster
Nepal lost at least 20% of it's hydropower capacity in the 2015 Gorkha #earthquake which killed nearly 9000 people and damaged more than 31 hydropower projects. It was not the ground shaking that damaged these HPPs. Landslides triggered by earthquake caused maximum losses.
These hydropower projects survived the earthquake but got wiped out by the debris highlighting that sites located along steep rivers with towering sidewalls were prone to becoming unstable during strong seismic ground shaking.
The study calls for an urgent need to assess the vulnerability of hydropower infrastructure to the risk of nature's extreme events.
To assess individual HPP sites, the results need to be
refined by detailed geomorphological seismic hazard appraisals, as well as risk analyses that include site-
specific economic considerations such as HPP life-cycle cost assessments. @yamunajiye
HPP hazard assessment needs to consider the seismic and geomorphic setting conjunctively. To this end, this knowledge will be required to mitigate the impacts of #earthquake on water - energy security in the future.
#UttarakhandDisaster #Tapovan

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More from @HarshVatsa7

12 Feb
Geological, historical & geophysical observations show that the entire Himalayan arc is poised to produce a sequence of great #earthquake. Human catastrophe likely to be unprecedented. The abstract is scary to the point. @yamunajiye #Uttarakhand #Himalayas pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/articl… Image
It is estimated that due to the average rate of convergence between the Indian and Asian plates, every year adds additional strain on the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) that needs an Mw =7.3 #earthquake for release. @yamunajiye @RaajSonak
As per a review of earthquakes in the #Himalayas in past 1000 years; over the past 500 years, there haven’t been enough big earthquakes (Mw = 8 and above) to ease the accumulated strain in large sections of the Himalayan arc. 
#earthquake @yamunajiye
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