Wednesday, April 20 2005 15:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Apprehending a "disaster" in the Himalayan region because of melting of snow, the Federation of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to put the disaster management machinery on high alert to avoid damage.

The Federation vice president and MP Murli Deora has written a letter to the Prime Minister drawing his urgent attention to the heavy avalanches in the upper western reaches of the Himalayan Ganges.

He said that these avalanches were "an indication of a disaster in the making" and hence the Government needed to gear itself accordingly well before the Monsoon, barely few weeks away.

Citing assessment of the sources of Red Cross and agencies that are constantly monitoring the situation in the Himalayas, Deora said that the highest snowfall in a decade received this year (2005) and the recent floods in Assam and Bihar had created "room for concern".

The heavy snowfall must be seen in tandem with the other phenomena of global warming, higher degrees of convection and resultant rains accumulating in the river basins of the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, the Congress MP said.

He said that the Red Cross has warned that impact of the floods in North India could extend to neighbouring countries

"With a major disaster almost waiting to strike, it is becoming imperative for the Government to set the entire disaster management machinery on a high alert in conjunction with the neighbouring countries likely to be affected," Deora said.

He said that the Prime Minister had assured that the matter would receive attention of the Government.