- search hit 1 of 1
Historical beacon fire lines as early warning systems for glacier lake outbursts in the Hindu Kush-Karakoram Mountains
- The paper presents a historical long-distance communication system based on beacon fires in one of the most dynamic and rugged mountain ranges of the world, the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayas. It was deployed as an early warning system for glacial lake outburst floods, which caused devastating impacts on settlement zones and infrastructure until the middle of the twentieth century. The study revealed that the beacon fire systems were operated in distinct valleys spread over the entire Hindu Kush-Karakoram Region. The remarkable fact is the establishment of fire posts in highly difficult accessible mountain environments with communication distances of several hundred kilometres for individual beacon lines. The warning system was a cooperative natural hazard management, which was operated even across distinct ethnic groups. Distant societies, formerly perceived as isolated villages by physical barriers of the high mountain relief, were in historical times connected not only by challenging trade routes but also by a fast working opticalThe paper presents a historical long-distance communication system based on beacon fires in one of the most dynamic and rugged mountain ranges of the world, the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayas. It was deployed as an early warning system for glacial lake outburst floods, which caused devastating impacts on settlement zones and infrastructure until the middle of the twentieth century. The study revealed that the beacon fire systems were operated in distinct valleys spread over the entire Hindu Kush-Karakoram Region. The remarkable fact is the establishment of fire posts in highly difficult accessible mountain environments with communication distances of several hundred kilometres for individual beacon lines. The warning system was a cooperative natural hazard management, which was operated even across distinct ethnic groups. Distant societies, formerly perceived as isolated villages by physical barriers of the high mountain relief, were in historical times connected not only by challenging trade routes but also by a fast working optical communication system. The findings are discussed in the context of a future sustainable natural hazard management.…
Author details: | Lasafam IturrizagaORCiDGND |
---|---|
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-019-03705-1 |
ISSN: | 0921-030X |
ISSN: | 1573-0840 |
Title of parent work (English): | Natural hazards : journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards |
Publisher: | Springer |
Place of publishing: | New York |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2019 |
Publication year: | 2019 |
Release date: | 2020/10/30 |
Tag: | Beacon fire; Early warning system; Glacial lake outbursts; Hindu Kush-Karakoram; Local knowledge; Sustainable natural hazard management |
Volume: | 99 |
Issue: | 1 |
Number of pages: | 32 |
First page: | 39 |
Last Page: | 70 |
Funding institution: | German Research Foundation (DFG)German Research Foundation (DFG); Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS)Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)Japan Society for the Promotion of Science |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geowissenschaften |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften |