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Complex mountainous environments such as Himalayas are highly susceptibility to natural hazards particular those that are triggered by the action of water such as floods, soil erosion, mass movements and siltation of the hydro-electric power dams. Among all the natural hazards, soil erosion is the most implicit and the devastating hazard affecting the life and property of the millions of people living in these regions. Hence to review and devise strategies to reduce the adverse impacts of soil erosion is of utmost importance to the planners of watershed management programs in these regions. This paper demonstrates the use of satellite based remote sensing data coupled with the observational field data in a multi-criteria analytical (MCA) framework to estimate the soil erosion susceptibility of the sub-watersheds of the Rembiara basin falling in the western Himalaya, using geographical information system (GIS). In this paper, watershed morphometry and land cover are used as an inputs to the MCA framework to prioritize the sub-watersheds of this basin on the basis of their different susceptibilities to soil erosion. Methodology included the derivation of a set of drainage and land cover parameters that act as the indicators of erosion susceptibility. Further the output from the MCA resulted in the categorization of the sub-watersheds into low, medium, high and very high erosion susceptibility classes. A detailed prioritization map for the susceptible sub-watersheds based on the combined role of land cover and morphometry is finally presented. Besides, maps identifying the susceptible sub-watersheds based on morphometry and land cover only are also presented. The results of this study are part of the watershed management program in the study area and are directed to instigate appropriate measures to alleviate the soil erosion in the study area.

The 2014 extreme flooding in Kashmir, with the peak discharge exceeding 115,000 cfs and the Jhelum River overflowing its banks, was triggered by the complex interplay of atmospheric disturbances causing widespread extreme rainfall for 7 days preceding the event. We used multisource data in GIS environment; satellites, hydro-meteorological, socioeconomic and field data, to assess the role of various factors in the flooding. The event was aggravated by the geomorphic setup of the Valley. Tributaries in the south, characterized by high gradient, decreased time of runoff concentration and increased flood peakedness with short lag, almost simultaneously discharge enormous volumes of floodwaters into the Jhelum around Sangam. Owing to the flat gradient of the Jhelum from Sangam downstream (<5 o), floods historically inundate vast areas in the stretch. The situation was exacerbated by the anthropogenic drivers, such as extensive urbanization of the floodplain, loss of wetlands, and decreased channel capacity due to the siltation from the deforested mountainous landscapes. The dilapidated flood control infrastructure and the institutional inability to manage the enormity of the event made the situation worst causing unprecedented damage to the infrastructure in the basin with the capital city Srinagar inundated up to »30ft for more than a week.

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We thank the commentator for his comments on our manuscript. The original manuscript published by Meraj et al. (2015) focused on the influence of the geomorphology and land cover on flood vulnerability in two Himalaya watersheds: one each from the Pir Panjal and Greater Himalaya ranges. The 2014 floods were mentioned in the manuscript just to indicate the validity and correctness of the approach adopted to assess the vulnerability of these two watersheds in Kashmir basin (KB). KB is also synonymously used for Karewa basin or Jhelum basin as well. The downstream areas of both these watersheds were inundated during the 2014 floods up to varying depths and duration. The September 2014 floods in the KB were a consequence of the extreme rainfall event that was quite widespread in extent. The situation was exacerbated due to the loss of wetlands, unplanned urbanization, the siltation of water courses in KB and the inadequate flood control infrastructure (Romshoo 2015). The commentator has made most of the comments about the genesis of 2014 floods, which was not specifically the focus of the research published by Meraj et al. (2015), and hence the genesis of the 2014 floods was not addressed therein. It is therefore appropriate that the comments made in Shah (2015) are properly responded to point by point, in order to provide a balanced perspective to the readership of the journal, and are as follows:This reply refers to the comment available at