Scientists are pointing to a glacier collapse and rock landslide as the cause of a devastating flash flood that killed at least 350 people and left many more missing near Nepal’s border with China, a mountainous region that’s increasingly imperiled by the effects of human-caused climate change.
Initial assessments based on seismic and satellite data, as well as videos of the event, indicate that a very large section of a glacier detached and collapsed after the bedrock below it gave way. That in turn caused seismic waves equivalent to a 5.2 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Ice from the glacier and rockfall may then have blocked the Lhende Khola river, causing water to quickly accumulate and ultimately surge downstream.
“What we’ve certainly confirmed — there was a large ice avalanche, probably a mixture of ice and rock, which detached and then became fluid and then transformed into this devastating flood,” said Simon Allen, a research associate at the University of Zurich who studies glacial hazards in the Himalayas. Allen said Thursday that early analysis of satellite images and field photos indicates the bedrock beneath the glacier failed.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.