Climate News

A glacier collapse sends deadly floods across the Nepal-Tibet border, with hundreds missing

Part of a glacier high in the Himalayas collapsed at about 8:40am local time on Wednesday 26 August, sending a huge surge of water, mud and rock down the valley along the Nepal-Tibet border. Al Jazeera reported that a section of the glacier broke away at about 5,200 metres and fell about 1,200 metres onto the valley floor. The resulting ice-rock avalanche hit the Lhende river in Tibet, briefly blocked it, and then burst through, releasing a flood into Nepal.

Nepal's Rasuwa district was among the worst hit. Water levels on the Trishuli river reportedly rose by up to 9 metres in 30 minutes, and at least 19 bridges and about 40km of roads were washed away. Officials were caught off guard because it was not raining. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the seismic signal first linked to an earthquake had in fact been produced by the landslide itself. India evacuated thousands of people downstream in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

How each outlet framed it

• Al Jazeera — an explainer on what happened, why, and who is missing.
• Anchorage Daily News — the AP account, leading on a glacial collapse killing at least 160 people.
• Outlook Traveller — the Indian magazine counted 133 Indians among the hundreds missing.
• The Financial Express — the Bangladeshi daily called the floods "catastrophic", with 359 dead.

Where the numbers differ: early death tolls ranged from 157 to more than 390, because counts were changing hour by hour and roads to some areas had been cut.

What happened next: by 30 August, Al Jazeera reported at least 797 dead, about 3,048 missing and 933 workers trapped in hydropower tunnels. On 7 September, Nepal held a day of mourning for more than 1,300 people killed. On 17 September, scientists said climate change had played a major role in triggering the floods.