The news about the death of fifteen Indian Army soldiers in avalanches in the Kashmir district has shocked the entire Country. However, sources say the news about the likelihood of an avalanche had been intimated in advance by the Snow and Avalanche Study Entertainment (SASE) to the Indian Army. “Avalanche is a result of many factors. These avalanches were predicted in advance. It can’t be said that they will occur at so and so time and in such area but we have what is called an area forecast and we could tell them about the area concerned. This was passed on to the Army,” said the Director SASE, Ashwagosh Ganju. He further said, “Army has its own compulsions so I will not be able to give you more about that. Avalanches can’t be predicted specifically but we were accurate about the area. And we did tell them in advance.”
The avalanche that hit Kashmir’s Sonamarg and Gurez sector was forecast prior by SASE. The director told sources that the reports about the avalanche were 80 – 85 per cent accurate. SASE is spread out in key areas to give precision avalanche forecasting. However, collecting information from all parts of the Himalayas becomes challenging due to limited infrastructure.
One of the staff members told a daily that SASE sends forecast report at 5:00 P.M., with the predictions of calamities for next 24 hours. Till now, the army has lost 20 soldiers in Kashmir due to avalanche and snow related incident.
Read about the horrific conditions of the soldiers here.
