Climate change is creating conditions that can destabilize rock and ice in high mountain regions, increasing the risk of disasters similar to Wednesday’s floods on the border between Nepal and Tibet. At least 165 people were killed and nearly 1,500 are missing, including at least 800 foreigners.

Scientists are still investigating the exact cause of the disaster. It was likely triggered by a massive avalanche of ice and rock from the northern slopes of Nepal’s Langtang Lirung mountain into the Lhende Khola River on the Tibetan side of the border. The resulting floods damaged at least six large hydroelectric power plants and infrastructure at the Gyirong trade hub.

Experts caution that climate change cannot be identified as the sole immediate cause. However, rising temperatures and melting glaciers are likely to have contributed to slope instability.

The disaster may have resulted from a combination of intense snowmelt, seismic activity and long-term climate change. In 2023, the United Nations warned that Nepal’s mountains had lost nearly a third of their ice cover in just over 30 years.

(Reuters, bak)