Schematic Natural Hazard Zonation of Bihar using Geoinformatics

With increased climate variability, aggravated natural hazards, through extreme events, are affecting the lives and livelihood of people. Climate change is expected to exacerbate the conditions causing such problems. Bihar is vulnerable to various kinds of natural hazards of varying magnitude and levels of impact. The initial objective of this research programme was to understand the occurrence of natural hazards in Bihar. The output of this project may act as a basis for the formulation of Natural Hazards Preparedness Plan to minimize the loss of life and other resources. Also, it can hopefully assist policymakers in formulation of different development plans within the state. The findings of the present study are being documented with an aim for invoking a paradigm shift in the attitudes and perceptions about natural hazards; this shift should make the state and the people more prepared to face such calamities, and consequently minimize the loss of life and property, as well as environmental degradation, and hence directly affect the state's growth prospects. More concretely, this study attempts to analyse natural hazards in Bihar and to prepare schematic hazard zonation maps using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Remote sensing is an important tool for monitoring of natural hazards and any environmental phenomena, both for large and small regions. Various open source satellite data have been utilized to analyse the same. Another important dimension of this project is to show the effectiveness of open source data with free software for large-scale policy formulation.