Climate change boosted risk of devastating Himalayan flood, experts say
Scientists say warming and glacier loss are making Himalayan rock and ice collapses more likely, with one disaster killing 165 people.
- Authorities reported on Aug 27 that nearly 1,500 people are missing, including at least 800 foreigners, following a massive Himalayan rock and mud avalanche that killed 165 people.
- Climate change destabilizes high-mountain rock and ice near the Nepal and Tibet border, where rising temperatures weaken mountainsides and increase meltwater, scientists say.
- The avalanche damaged at least six major hydropower plants and Gyirong Port infrastructure, altering river channels more than 62 miles downstream, while Nepal's glaciers melted 65% faster in the prior decade.
- Benjamin Horton, dean at the City University of Hong Kong, described the disaster as a "compound event," where earthquakes interact with climate-driven changes to "create a more complex and damaging disaster than would occur from any one factor alone."
- Similar catastrophic surges have occurred across the Hindu Kush range in recent years, including events in Sikkim and Thame, as experts warn that understanding cascading risks is essential for improving regional resilience.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Climate change boosted risk of devastating Himalayan flood, experts say
Climate change is leading to conditions that can destabilise high-mountain rock and ice, strengthening prospects for disasters such as this week's Himalayan flood along the border between Nepal and China's Tibet that killed 165, scientists say.
Climate change boosted risk of devastating Himalayan flood: Experts - The Tribune
Climate change is leading to conditions that can destabilise high-mountain rock and ice, strengthening prospects for disasters such as this week’s Himalayan flood along the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet that killed 165, scientists say. At least 800 foreigners are among the nearly 1,500 missing, authorities said on Thursday, a day after a massive […]
Climate Change Boosted Risk Of Devastating Nepal Flood: Experts
While the exact cause of Wednesday's disaster is still being analysed, scientists say it probably began with a massive ice-rock avalanche on the northern slopes of Nepal's Langtang Lirung peak into the Lhende Khola river on the Tibetan side.
Similar accidents can be expected in the future if climate change cannot be curbed, says the professor of geodynamics.
Algemeen Dagblad
An ice and rock avalanche from a glacier on the northern side of the Himalayas is likely the cause of the flash flood in the border region between China (Tibet) and Nepal. This is according to Walter Immerzeel, a professor of mountain hydrology specializing in climate change in the Himalayas. "The ice that holds rocks together like cement is melting increasingly fast."
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
