The Ministry of Earth Sciences provided a detailed parliamentary response on India's indigenous warning systems through Minister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh. The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) maintains 24x7 earthquake monitoring through its National Seismological Network of 174 seismological observatories spread throughout the country. The earthquake early warning system operates on detection of non-damaging primary waves (P-waves) at sensors in source regions, enabling alerts that provide few seconds lead time before stronger ground shaking arrives at targeted sites depending on distance from the epicenter. NCS is using allocated funds to develop this EEW system in the pilot phase.
Regarding cloudbursts in Himachal Pradesh, the India Meteorological Department stated that no conclusive study has been conducted to establish reasons behind any perceived increase in incidents due to their highly localized nature, short duration, and limited observational data. However, IMD provides impact-based early warning services for various meteorological disaster events at different temporal and spatial scales to support disaster risk reduction management. These forecasts and warnings are shared through multiple communication channels to disaster management authorities, state governments, district administrations, and other stakeholders including Ministry of Home Affairs, NDMA, SDMAs, Deputy Commissioners, Central Government Departments, and media.
The Ministry highlighted various modernization projects including the ongoing Mission Mausam for improving weather forecast accuracy and strengthening disaster preparedness across the country, including Himalayan States. IMD currently operates a network of 50 Doppler Weather Radars (including those operated by ISRO and IITM) across India, along with 1008 Automatic Weather Stations and 6,885 Rain Gauge Stations under district-wise and block-wise rainfall monitoring systems. The observational network augmentation has been complemented by significant advancements in numerical modelling capability and early warning systems over the past decade.
IMD has developed several specialized weather forecasting modules including Numerical Weather Prediction models like Global Forecast System, Bharat Forecast System, Weather Research and Forecasting, High-Resolution Rapid Refresh, Electric Weather Research and Forecasting, Experimental AI models, and Multi-Model Ensemble systems. These provide specialized severe weather warning products for precipitation, thunderstorm & lightning, wind gust, heat/cold wave, fog and other hazardous weather events for the entire country, including mountainous states.
The National Disaster Management Authority has launched a Centrally Sponsored Initiative titled Mitigation Project of Lightning Safety as a pilot project with IMD as technical partner. The MPLS comprises five components: Community-Based Risk Assessment and Strengthening of Lightning Early Warning System; Awareness, Education, Training and Capacity Building; Preparedness and Mitigation; Research and Development on Lightning; and Establishment of a Lightning Hazard Management Unit. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology has developed the DAMINI mobile application which supports 17 regional languages and provides the public with location-specific lightning alerts/warnings, real-time lightning information, and safety advisories.