Agreement between Nepal Telecom and Department of Hydrology and Meteorology

KATHMANDU:Nepal Telecom and the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology have reached an agreement to provide advance information on  Hydrology and Meteorology disaster risk.

The agreement was signed by Nepal Telecom's Managing Director, Sangita Pahadi (Aryal), and Department of Hydrology and Meteorology Director General, Dr. Jagadishwor Karmacharya.

According to the agreement, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology will supply Nepal Telecom with the essential information to broadcast disaster-related advance alerts via mobile SMS, it is mentioned in the announcement.

According to the NTC, mobile phone users in the area can use the short code 1155 to receive a warning about the risk of weather-related disasters before they occur in the anticipated area.

It is stated that disasters such as rain, windstorm, lightning, avalanche, snowstorm, blizzard, heat wave (lu), frost wave, air pollution, torrential rain, flood, flash flood, landslide, avalanche explosion, and mudslide will be  provided forecasted.

Nepal Telecom has already provided 600 SIMs to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology for use in the central server, and it has now provided 700 SIMs plus 100 more. Telecom provides 300 MB of data every month for free.

It has been stated that the NTC has provided the required support for this type of information flow since 2073. Since 2073, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has been communicating information and messages to the general public via a free SMS service.