BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//OEGSL//Semmelnare//DE
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:schnee.semmelnar mit Doug Chabot
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:20@snow-science-group
DTSTAMP:20260914T065557Z
DTSTART:20260508T150000Z
DTEND:20260508T160000Z
SUMMARY:schnee.semmelnar mit Doug Chabot
DESCRIPTION:Snow\, Rain\, and an Earthquake: A Massive Avalanche Cycle in
  Tajikistan and Afghanistan\n\nIn Central Asia avalanches primarily affe
 ct houses\, villages\, and valuable livestock versus recreational users.
  To protect lives and property\, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) 
 developed an avalanche safety network for this region that includes aval
 anche forecasting\, search and rescue teams\, and community emergency re
 sponse teams. This network was put to the test in February 2023. A power
 ful winter storm hit Tajikistan and Afghanistan from February 13-21\, 20
 23. Nine straight days of snowfall dropped over one meter in the valleys
  and more than double that in the starting zones. The snow fell onto a d
 epth-hoar dominated snowpack and triggered hundreds of slides. A mid-sto
 rm rain event triggered even more avalanches and flooded homes and villa
 ges. To make matters worse\, on February 17\, a 4.6 magnitude earthquake
  in northern Afghanistan likely triggered more slides. Snow\, rain\, and
  an earthquake coupled with a weak snowpack produced a historic avalanch
 e cycle. During the avalanche cycle\, observers at 36 Weather Monitoring
  Posts (WMPs) recorded 593 avalanches. These WMPs are a cornerstone of A
 KAH’s avalanche forecasting program. Every morning a person measures sno
 wfall\, snow depth\, max and min temperatures\, rainfall\, and avalanche
  activity. The sites for these WMPs were specifically chosen because of 
 the avalanche threat to the area. Villages surrounding these sites were 
 trained in avalanche fundamentals and avalanche rescue. The day before t
 he storm I issued an Avalanche Alert for southern Tajikistan and norther
 n Afghanistan while working as an avalanche forecaster for AKAH. They in
 formed the public through in-person warnings\, texts\, social media\, an
 d mosques. They evacuated 1\,024 households and several homes were subse
 quently destroyed by avalanches. Unfortunately\, since many homes and vi
 llages are located in runout zones\, loss of life was inevitable. Sadly\
 , 38 people died\, 35 were injured\, 84 homes were destroyed or damaged 
 (including a school)\, and 333 livestock were killed. However\, these nu
 mbers were much lower than the 148 people who perished during a large av
 alanche cycle in this region in 2012. While any death is tragic\, AKAH’s
  avalanche safety network saved lives.
URL:https://oegsl.org/de/events/25-26/schnee-semmelnar-mit-doug-chabot
LOCATION:Innsbruck & online
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR