Is Nepal's flood a harbinger of what's to come in the Himalayas?
A catastrophic flood in Nepal, caused by a massive glacial collapse, has resulted in thousands of casualties and the destruction of critical hydropower infrastructure. Experts are now questioning the safety and risk assessment protocols for building energy projects in the volatile Himalayan region.
Why it matters
The disaster raises urgent questions about the intersection of climate change, infrastructure development, and disaster risk management in high-altitude regions.
KATHMANDU, Nepal — On a recent September day, Sumana Shrestha Amatya stood alongside other protesters in the Nepali capital, urging the government to work faster to find their loved ones, trapped inside hydropower plants since flash floods devastated miles of a river valley in late August.
Amatya says she hasn't heard from officials about her husband, Sunil, a geologist. Still, she acknowledged the scale of the disaster that the government was grappling with: "It was like a Himalayan tsunami."
It's a description other Nepalis have used for the events of Aug. 26, when a glacier and its bedrock spanning more than 3,800 feet in width collapsed into a river valley, some 4,000 feet below.
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