PARLIAMENT QUESTION:EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS FOR NATURAL DISASTERS
PARLIAMENT QUESTION:EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS FOR NATURAL DISASTERS
There has been no delay in disseminating early warning information by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) regarding various natural disasters, including heavy rainfall events, floods, and cyclones, in States such as Gujarat, Odisha, and Kerala. The IMD has consistently issued timely alerts and forecasts to the public and concerned stakeholders. The Central Water Commission (CWC) is mandated to issue short-range flood forecasts with a lead time of up to 24 hours to concerned State Governments at identified locations. Timely flood forecasts are being issued when a certain threshold limit is reached.
IMD follows standard global best practice and operating procedures to deliver effective and efficient weather and climate forecasting services to the nation. The skill of the operational forecasts issued by IMD for various extreme weather and climate events is comparable to other national meteorological services of developed countries in the world. Overall, there has been significant improvement in the forecasting of various severe weather events like cyclones and heavy rainfall over the country during recent years (details about the IMD forecast accuracy are given in Annexure-1).
IMD uses a state-of-the-art dissemination system to share all severe weather information and early warning with Disaster Management Authorities as well as the general public through various platforms for necessary preparedness and to support mitigation measures. It includes Social media, Sachet-Apps via Common Alert Protocol (CAP), Mobile Apps, WhatsApp, and API. As a result, the vulnerable population gets evacuated from the damage-prone areas in a timely manner to safe shelters, thereby reducing the human death toll to a bare minimum. For this, IMD is issuing a seamless forecasting system at seasonal to nowcast scale and has implemented a well-defined Standard Operation Procedure for monitoring & forecasting the weather hazards and issuing impact-based warnings in consultation with NDMA, SDMA, and other various user agencies like Aviation, power, Railways, etc.
IMD has adopted new techniques and technology from time to time to detect, monitor, and provide timely early warnings (for the entire country, including coastal and rural communities) for all types of extreme weather events like cyclones, floods, and heatwaves, which have devastating impacts on human lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure. There has been significant progress in this direction with:
Recently, a new Central Sector Scheme, “Mission Mausam,” was launched by MoES with the goal of making Bharat a “Weather-ready and climate-smart” nation.
Bharat Forecast System (BhartFS) was launched very recently (on 26th May 2025). The validation of the accuracy of forecasts from BhartFS for real-time situations is yet to be carried out, as it needs data of a longer period.
To ensure effective dissemination of warnings to vulnerable populations, various steps have been taken. IMD’s weather information including alerts and warning to the public are provided through various platforms:
Last year (2024), a joint collaborative programme of the Central and State Governments was launched by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR). Under this program, the MoPR implemented the Gram Panchayat-Level Weather Forecasting (GPLWF) for nearly all Gram Panchayats in India on 24th October 2024. These forecasts are accessible on digital platforms such as e-Gramswaraj (https://egramswaraj.gov.in/), the Meri panchayat app, e-Manchitra of MoPR, and Mausamgram of the IMD (https://mausamgram.imd.gov.in/).The main aims and objectives of the GPLWF are to provide weather forecasts up to Gram Panchayat Levels, covering critical parameters such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind, and cloud conditions—essential data that farmers need for informed decision-making regarding sowing, harvesting, and irrigation. The platform makes weather forecast information accessible anytime and anywhere at the panchayat level across the country. Attempts have been made to reach a larger number of people for this weather information through Pashu Sakhis and Krishi Sakhis under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the Ministry of Rural Development.
IMD has also brought out a web-based online “Climate Hazard & Vulnerability Atlas of India” prepared for the thirteen most hazardous meteorological events, which cause extensive damage and economic, human, and animal losses. The same can be accessed at https://imdpune.gov.in/hazardatlas/abouthazard.html. This atlas will help State Government authorities and disaster management agencies identify the hotspots and plan and take appropriate action to tackle extreme weather events. This product is helpful in building Climate Change resilient infrastructure.
IMD has launched seven of its services (Current Weather, Nowcast, City Forecast, Rainfall Information, Tourism Forecast, Warnings, and Cyclone) with the ‘UMANG’ Mobile App for use by the Public. Moreover, IMD developed a mobile App, ‘MAUSAM’ for weather forecasting, ‘Meghdoot’ for Agromet advisory dissemination, and ‘Damini’ for lightning alerts. The Common Alert Protocol (CAP), developed by the NDMA, is also being implemented to disseminate warnings by the IMD.
The CWC has taken several steps by adopting various dissemination mechanisms to get maximum reach to the flood warnings, so that mitigation measures can be adopted by State Governments, SDMA, NDMA, and the public. Further, with an aim of disseminating information related to the flood situation in the country and flood forecasts up to 7 days on a real-time basis to the public through mobile phones, version 2.0 of the ‘Flood Watch India’ mobile application has been developed by the CWC, which provides current information on flood conditions across the country. Further, it also provides additional information regarding the storage positions of 150 major reservoirs in the country, which helps in a better understanding of the possible flood situation in their downstream areas. The ‘Flood Watch India’ app is available for download.
Annexure-1
Forecast and warning skill improvement of short-range to medium-range real-time:
Cyclone Forecast Performance –5 years comparative (2020-24 vs 2015-19)
Heavy rainfall forecast- skill 2014 to 2024 and (2016-2020) versus (2021-2024)
There is about 30, 40, and 45% improvement in skill of 24, 48, and 72 hrs lead period, respectively, in the recent 05 years (2020-24) as compared to the previous 5 years (2015-19).
This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, MoS Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
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