The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved Bhutan’s submission of USD 22 million concept note to strengthen early-warning systems across all river major river basins.
The government submitted a project Concept Note to the GCF, which was approved in June 2026.
The Ministry of Finance and the National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM), in collaboration with UNEP, are currently developing the full project proposal. GovTech, NCHM and the Department of Local Governance and Disaster Management will be tasked to identify and implement the most effective communication technologies while modernizing and upgrading the country;s early-warning system.
Prime Minister (PM) Dasho Tshering Tobgay said the existing early-warning systems in the Punatsangchhu basin are functioning but have become old and need to be improved.
The GLOF early-warning systems (EWS) in the Punatsang chhu basin was implemented under NAPA-1 between 2009 and 2013, becoming operational in the Pho Chhu sub-basin in 2011 and subsequently expanding to the Mochhu sub-basin in 2013.
The PM said the systems currently provide critical time to evacuate communities in the event of a GLOF from Thorthormi.
“If the EWS notice goes off in Thorthormi, we have a six-hour notice in Punakha Dzong, 5.3 hours in Samdingkha and two hours in Lhadi, and we have this time to save lives,” he said.
The Punatsangchhu basin has 77 vulnerable communities, comprising 1,196 households and 11,921 people, as well as four schools and two vocational training institutes. In Gasa, at the upstream end of the basin, 131 households comprising 396 people have been identified as vulnerable.
The PM said early-warning systems should be viewed as investments in national security and economic stability. However, he stressed that having the technology in place is not enough if communities are not prepared to respond when an alarm is triggered.
“The best EWS system is not enough as people need to know what to do when the alarms go off,” he stressed.
GLOF training and exercises are being conducted in vulnerable communities, including an evacuation exercise at Punakha Dzong. The PM said such exercises should be conducted annually to ensure communities and institutions know how to respond during an emergency. “Every citizen has a role including institutions,” he said.
More than 70 percent of the country’s settlements are located along major drainage basins exposed to floods, GLOFs and other water-related hazards. These areas also contain roads, bridges, hydropower projects, agricultural land, industries and other critical infrastructure.
The PM reiterated that future disasters could exceed the scale of historical events and could involve several hazards occurring together, including GLOFs, intense rainfall, flash floods, landslides and debris flows.
Such cascading disasters could damage roads and bridges and disrupt electricity, telecommunications, transport, food supplies, health services and other essential systems.
Bhutan has experienced major GLOFs in 1957, 1960, 1968 and 1994. The 1994 Luggye Tsho GLOF killed 22 people and caused major downstream damage, becoming a catalyst for GLOF monitoring and early-warning systems.
The country has also experienced major flood events. Cyclone Aila in 2009 caused 12 deaths and more than Nu 700 million in damage, while flash floods and landslides in 2010 affected nearly 4,800 households. Flooding in Gasa in 2012 caused more than US$5 million in damage, while flash floods in July 2023 affected Gelephu, Phuentsholing and Lhuentse and damaged roads, bridges and public infrastructure.
The Government has expanded monitoring and warning arrangements since the 1994 GLOF. NCHM maintains glacier and glacial-lake inventories, monitoring networks, flood forecasting systems and GLOF early-warning mechanisms.
Bhutan has identified 2,391 glacial lakes covering about 55.56 square kilometres, of which 17 have been classified as potentially dangerous. Eleven of these are in the Pho Chhu sub-basin.
The PM cautioned that preparedness, however, must extend beyond warning systems. Evacuation routes need to be accessible, communities need to know where to move, and emergency services and critical infrastructure must be able to function during disasters.
Community awareness, evacuation planning and simulation exercises are therefore being strengthened, while schools, health facilities, hydropower plants, government offices and religious institutions in vulnerable areas need institution-specific emergency arrangements.
Infrastructure resilience is also being treated as part of disaster preparedness, with roads, bridges, hydropower, water systems, schools, hospitals and telecommunications requiring assessment against extreme floods, GLOFs, landslides and other cascading hazards.
The Punatsangchhu basin is a particular concern because of its combination of potentially dangerous glacial lakes, downstream settlements, agricultural areas, transport networks and hydropower infrastructure. Preparedness in the basin therefore needs to cover the entire system from upstream glacial lakes to downstream communities and critical infrastructure.
The Government is also considering longer-term measures for settlements and infrastructure facing unacceptably high risks. The PM said relocation should not automatically be applied to every flood-prone area, but areas where risks cannot be adequately reduced could be identified for phased and voluntary relocation.
Future development should also avoid creating new exposure by preventing permanent settlements and critical infrastructure from being established in areas identified as having very high flood or GLOF risks.
The Government’s priorities include continuous monitoring of glaciers, glacial lakes, rainfall and rivers; stronger multi-hazard and impact-based early warning; tested evacuation and emergency plans; resilient critical infrastructure; and preventing new exposure where risks cannot be adequately reduced.
The PM said that the Government cannot guarantee that an unprecedented disaster will not occur, but preparedness can strengthen Bhutan’s ability to anticipate, respond to and recover from such events.
He also acknowledged the far-sighted leadership of His Majesty The King in strengthening the country’s preparedness, noting that the mock drills and other measures being undertaken were carried out in response to His Majesty’s command and guidance.
Nidup Lhamo, Thimphu
