New Delhi:, Feb. 27 -- The 2021 Chamoli avalanche highlighted the inadequacy of conventional project assessment methodologies in the Himalayan region, and the 2024 Wayanad landslides flagged gaps in long-term risk reduction planning and community preparedness measures, the National Disaster Management Authority said in a compilation of recent disasters. The compilation, released recently, suggests that these , and some of the other disasters included were preventable -- for instance, it says the Silkyara tunnel's troubled construction history provided numerous warning signals that were inadequately addressed before the 2023 collapse -- and also serves as a reminder of the human cost. In the case of the 2021 Chamoli disaster, of the 204 feared dead, only 77 deaths could be confirmed. The remaining 127 people are classified as missing. And in the Wayanad landslides, 225 deaths have been confirmed but 138 individuals are still listed as missing. Apart from legal complications, this also means a lack of closure for the affected families. The Chamoli disaster showed that in the Himalayan region, where geological instability, climate change impacts, and human activities create compound risks that exceed traditional engineering assumptions, future infrastructure development must incorporate dynamic risk modelling that accounts for changing environmental conditions and compound hazard scenarios.Thorough geological, seismic, and climate risk evaluations are a must, it added. And sometimes, the compendium suggested, it makes sense to heed warnings; in the case of the Silkyara tunnel, before the November 2023 collapse, the tunnel had experienced 21 documented collapse incidents of varying severity since the construction commenced. The compendium of 10 disasters reflects on causes and lessons for future infrastructure , and has been prepared with the specific purpose of serving as a reference document. By examining a variety of case studies -- spanning industrial chemical accidents, natural hazards, transport incidents, and extreme weather events -- it provides valuable insights into decision-making under crisis conditions, NDMA said. The compendium marks a rare admission by the government of lapses in project planning. Several infrastructure projects in Uttarakhand have experienced similar challenges to Silkyara, the compendium noted: "These precedents established a pattern of geological underestimation, inadequate safety margins, and reactive rather than proactive risk management approaches. Environmental experts and geologists had repeatedly warned that the Char Dham project's scale and pace exceeded the carrying capacity of the Himalayan ecosystem."...