Flood-Hit Nepal unsure how to rebuild after catastrophe as landscape wiped out
Nepal is facing a massive reconstruction challenge following a catastrophic glacial flood that destroyed infrastructure and landscapes across two river valleys. With a death toll nearing 1,000 and significant economic damage, the government is struggling to determine how to rebuild in areas where the land itself has been altered.
Why it matters
The disaster threatens the economic stability of one of Asia's poorest nations and highlights the increasing vulnerability of mountainous regions to climate-related geological events.
KATHMANDU (Bloomberg): About a decade ago, a powerful Nepal earthquake killed 9,000 people and devastated a tourism industry built around Himalayan treks. While the destruction from last week’s glacial flood is smaller in scale, this time officials aren’t even sure how to start reconstruction.
"After an earthquake, if your house fell, you still had your land - you could rebuild it,” said Govind Raj Pokharel, former head of Nepal’s National Reconstruction Authority, who helped lead the post-earthquake reconstruction in 2015. "Here, where do we rebuild?”
A collapsed glacier last week sent a deluge of water, mud, rocks and ice hurtling at speeds around 100 miles-per-hour (160-km per hour), leaving a trail of death and destruction that transformed the landscape of two major river valleys in Nepal and neighboring China. Rescue teams are still racing to find survivors, with the death toll climbing to 987 on Tuesday.
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