Our mission

Watch the ridge, log the damage, close the gap.

Himalaya Ridge Watch exists because the same pattern repeats in every mountain flood: the water is detectable before it arrives, the damage is visible to locals within minutes, and yet nobody holds a single shared list of what is broken and whether it has been fixed. Our job is to make that list exist, keep it public, and surround it with the risk, prevention and supply knowledge needed to act on it.

R.I.D.G.E. — the five things we work on

R

Risk

Know which valleys, rivers and slopes can flood.

Mountain flood risk is not evenly spread. We map where glacial lakes, barrier lakes, steep tributaries and undercut riverbanks put specific settlements in the path of water, so preparation targets the places that will actually be hit.

I

Intelligence

Turn satellite, sensor and weather data into insight.

Raw data helps nobody in a village at 2am. We explain the instruments — satellite imagery, river gauges, rainfall radar, InSAR slope monitoring — and what their readings actually mean for a household downstream.

D

Detection

Spot rising water, dammed lakes and slope failure early.

Most Himalayan flood deaths come from events that were physically detectable hours or days earlier. We track the detection methods that work in low-power, low-connectivity terrain and where they are missing.

G

Ground reports

Village-level eyes and ears confirm what instruments see.

This is where the Damage & Needs Tracker lives. People on the ground know within minutes that a canal intake is gone, a bridge is unsafe or a family is unaccounted for. The log turns those observations into a shared, trackable record instead of scattered messages.

E

Early warning

Get the alert to every household in time to act.

A warning only counts if it reaches the last house in the valley and people know what to do with it. We document siren, radio, phone-tree and door-to-door methods, and log where warning systems are broken.

How we work

Open by default

Every tracker entry is public and readable by anyone — communities, journalists, NGOs and sponsors see the same list, with no gatekeeper deciding what is visible.

Log, then close the loop

A problem list that only grows is demoralising. Every entry can be moved to being worked on and then fixed, with a note on what was done, so progress is visible.

Dated and sourced

Casualty, missing and cost figures carry the date and the source they came from. Numbers in a live disaster change daily, and undated numbers mislead.

Privacy over completeness

Do not post phone numbers, ID numbers, medical details or home addresses. A public log is the wrong place for personal data, even in an emergency.

Low-tech, repairable

Our supply and prevention guidance favours gravity-fed, hand-repairable, locally sourced solutions over equipment that dies when the fuel or the electricity does.

Independent

We are not affiliated with any government, NGO or company. Any organisation named on this site is independent of us and should be verified before you engage.

What we deliberately do not do

  • ×We do not collect, request or accept donations, fees or payments of any kind.
  • ×We do not deliver supplies, dispatch rescue teams or provide medical advice.
  • ×We do not verify tracker entries — treat every entry as an unconfirmed community report.
  • ×We do not broker introductions between sponsors, NGOs and communities.
  • ×We do not replace official channels: Nepal Police, NDRRMA and the Bipad portal remain authoritative.

Emergency in Nepal: Police 100 · Ambulance 102 · NDRRMA hotline 1155. Figures published on this site come from public reporting and are dated at the point of use.