Nepal flood highlights growing risk of glacier disasters in the Alps

A devastating glacier collapse on the China-Nepal border has highlighted the growing risk of glacier disasters in high mountain regions. The collapse triggered a massive rock and ice avalanche that unleashed deadly flash floods downhill, leaving over 400 people dead and nearly 3,000 missing across both nations, according to the US Geological Survey and Malay Mail.

Glaciers in the Himalayas are melting faster than ever due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters, scientists warn, as reported by Channel News Asia and Malay Mail. Europe is also warming rapidly, with glaciologist Olaf Eisen stating that rapidly retreating glaciers and thawing permafrost are destabilising high mountain regions, as reported by Euronews.

In response to the disaster, India is stepping up monitoring of its Himalayan regions bordering China and Nepal. The state disaster management minister in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, Madan Kaushik, has asked teams to be vigilant and monitor if a similar situation is emerging anywhere in the state, which has 1,266 glacial lakes, according to Malay Mail.

A Beijing-based satellite company also quickly redirected six of its satellites to survey the disaster zone, capturing high-resolution radar images of the collapse site, as reported by Reuters Business via SCMP and South China Morning Post.

Brief written by urgent.news from Euronews, Channel News Asia, Malay Mail, Reuters Business via SCMP, South China Morning Post — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.