Shimla, Aug. 29 -- The rising temperatures, accelerated glacier retreat and increasing formation of glacial lakes are making the Trans-Himalayan and wider Himalayan region increasingly vulnerable to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs), landslides and flash floods, retired glaciologist and scientist S.S. Randhawa has warned, calling for stricter enforcement of building by-laws, restrictions on development in vulnerable areas and scientific mapping of flood-prone zones.

Randhawa, former Principal Scientific Officer with the Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology and Environment under the Department of Science and Technology, told ANI that decades of field and satellite-based studies of Himachal Pradesh's glaciers had shown a bro...