Nepal's Devastating Floods Reveal the Danger of 'Cascading Hazards' in Himalayas

Nepal flood reiterates that water can give both life and death

The latest "liquid concrete" flow of water from the Himalayas has far too many precedents in India and Nepal; what happens on the Chinese side during such events is hard to gauge but it must be just as bad. It seems we are wilfully ignoring Nature's repeated signals to slow down, accept the realities of our fragile eco-systems and manage expectations accordingly. 'Development' cannot exclude those who live in remote areas but nor should it endan…

Nepal's devastating floods reveal the danger of 'cascading hazards' in Himalayas

The devastating floods that have swept through the Nepal–Tibet border region are first and foremost a human tragedy. Hundreds of people have died or remain missing. But as scientists begin to reconstruct what happened, the event also exposes something fundamental about the way we understand natural hazards in high mountain regions. Mountains and rivers do not reset after an extreme event.

Emergency warnings weren’t enough to save Nepal’s flood-ravaged villages. An expert explains

A flash flood can transform a river within minutes. This is what communities near the Nepal-Tibet border witnessed on Wednesday. A massive flash flood ripped through villages along the Bhote Koshi–Trishuli river system carrying mud, debris and fast-flowing water. It has claimed the lives of at least 469 people and left hundreds more missing, including 39 Australians. Preliminary investigations suggest the flood was caused by a major collapse of …