As Death Toll From Nepal Flood Rises, Officials Call to Tackle Warming
Five days after a calamitous flood washed through Rasuwa, Nepal, the death toll continues to climb. Authorities said Monday that 903 people have been confirmed dead, while another 4,247 are missing, as the country reels from a disaster that experts say may be linked to the melting of glacial ice. Read more on E360 →
As the death toll from a devastating flood in Nepal rises, officials are urging the world to tackle the issue of climate change. Five days after the flood hit Rasuwa, the death toll has climbed to 903 confirmed deaths, with 4,247 people still missing. The disaster is believed to have been caused by the collapse of a glacier on Langtang Lirung peak, which sent a massive wave of ice and rock into a valley and blocked the Trishuli River.
When the barrier eventually gave way, it unleashed a surge of water and mud several stories high, devastating villages along the river, even in neighboring Tibet.
Research shows that the melting and thawing of glaciers may have contributed to the disaster. Over the past three decades, Nepali mountains have lost about a third of their ice, according to the United Nations. The Langtang Lirung glacier retreated roughly 1,500 feet between 1990 and 2020, leaving the slope more susceptible to a landslide. The warm spell that melted snow atop the glacier before the flood likely provided the water needed for the rockfall, according to geoscientist Umesh Haritashya.
The upper Himalayas are warming at nearly twice the global average, with August being the warmest month in the region. While scientists continue to investigate the exact causes of the disaster, hydrologist Wouter Buytaert from Imperial College London asserts that such events are precisely what climate change can trigger. U.N. Climate Chief Simon Stiell pointed out in a statement that warming climate "is making tragedies like this, and so many others around the world, much more likely, frequent, and severe, with vulnerable communities often hardest hit."
Nepal's Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal called for global action during a press conference, urging countries to acknowledge climate change as one of the greatest challenges faced by Nepal and its citizens, emphasizing that addressing it requires a collective effort.
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