Nepal’s oldest public university, 1959, in Kathmandu’s Kirtipur district
A glacier-triggered flash flood has collapsed into rivers near Nepal and Tibet, creating a barrier lake that has swelled to about 2.5 million cubic metres. Officials warn of a high risk of breach as authorities monitor rising water levels and potential secondary floods. Rescues continue, with hundreds dead and many missing as relief operations press on.
Nepal faces a widening disaster as flood and landslide deaths mount. More than 2,400 people remain unaccounted for in Nepal, with hundreds more missing across the India-Nepal border in Tibet. The UK has dispatched a rapid response team and offered aid, while families search for loved ones amid makeshift morgues and overwhelmed facilities.
A Systemiq-led study has found Himalayan glaciers are losing mass 65% faster than a decade ago and that just 21 of an estimated 40,000 glaciers are being monitored on the ground. The research has linked accelerated melt, expanding unstable glacial lakes and thawing permafrost to rising risks of floods, landslides and a mid-century peak-water decline that will affect agriculture, hydropower and millions downstream.