As India faces a surge in extreme weather events driven by climate change, experts are urging a technological revolution in disaster management. The integration of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is emerging as a critical tool to predict, prepare for, and mitigate the devastating impacts of floods, landslides, cloudbursts, and heatwaves.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), India will see intensified monsoons, more frequent floods, and prolonged heatwaves in the coming years. A report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) revealed that India endured extreme weather events on 322 days in 2024, almost the entire year. During last year’s monsoon alone, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded over 1,500 casualties with millions of hectares of farmland and thousands of homes damaged.
These trends underscore the urgent need to strengthen climate resilience through modern, data-driven tools.
Mapping the Crisis
The monsoon season in 2025 exposed India’s growing climatic vulnerability. Catastrophic landslides struck Wayanad, flash floods swept through Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Uttarakhand faced deadly cloudbursts. Even drought-prone Marathwada experienced 128% of normal rainfall leading to crop and livelihood losses. Meanwhile, heatwaves scorched the northern plains and central India, revealing a troubling imbalance in the spatial distribution of rainfall and temperature.
The underlying causes are rooted in a mix of climate change deforestation, and unplanned urbanization which worsen flooding and erosion. Inadequate data, limited monitoring infrastructure especially across Himalayan regions and fragmented reporting systems further weaken disaster response efforts.
How Technology Can Help
Remote Sensing (RS) collects information about the Earth’s surface using satellites, drones, and aircraft-based sensors. It can detect changes invisible to the naked eye, from heat anomalies to soil moisture variations, providing crucial early warnings for natural disasters.
Complementing this Geographic Information Systems (GIS) organize and analyze spatial data. Historical satellite records, such as from Landsat and LISS missions, can be integrated into GIS to map hazard zones, track land-use changes, and build predictive models. These insights allow authorities to forecast floods, monitor drought progression, and plan urban expansion sustainably.
Together, RS and GIS serve as the “eyes and brain” of modern disaster management, enabling near real-time decision-making.
India New Technological Push
Initiatives like Mission Mausam aim to integrate next-generation radar and satellite systems into GIS-based Decision Support Systems for real-time environmental monitoring. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, launched recently, is a landmark step it will map nearly all land and ice surfaces every 12 days, detecting ground movements as small as one centimetre. This precision data could revolutionize India’s ability to predict landslides, floods, and glacier shifts.
From Reaction to Preparedness
Experts stress that India must move from reactive disaster response to proactive risk reduction and preparedness aligning with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) Strengthening community resilience, expanding satellite coverage, and creating an integrated national data infrastructure are essential steps.
Given the borderless nature of climate disasters, India’s policies must transcend administrative boundaries and embrace AI-integrated RS-GIS systems for coordinated regional action.
In a warming world where climate extremes are the new normal, technology offers a path not just to survive disasters but to anticipate and prevent them. The challenge now lies in ensuring these innovations reach every corner of India before the next flood or heatwave strikes.