Snow avalanche is a common phenomenon in high mountain landscapes like Himalayas where the sheer force of the down sliding snow uproot rocks, trees or other material and leave behind a devastating picture of death and misery. Such phenomena occur in areas where rapid accumulation of snow takes place and the most favourable location and situation is the high slopes just after a snow storm or heavy snowfall. This paper examines the spatial and temporal avalanche occurrence in Himachal Pradesh. The analysis shows that frequency and magnitude of snow avalanches in Himachal Pradesh are considerably less disastrous and have limited spatial extent; restricted to the Greater Himalayan region and the northern limits of middle Himalayas. Such events are confined to northern and eastern parts of the state where snowfall is perpetual. The locational distribution also shows that within the study area the most vulnerable areas include Chandra river valley from Koksar to Udaipur in Lahaul & Spiti district; Sangla valley, Karcham-Reckong Peo area and Tinku nullah in Poo area to Namgia in Kinnaur district; Pangi area of Chamba district and the higher reaches around Deo-Tibba of Kullu district. Likewise the impact of avalanches in terms of human casualty is confined to Lahaul & Spiti and Kinnaur districts.
Avalanche, disaster, casualty, spatio-temporal distribution, Himalayas
