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What Nepal floods tell us—warming Himalayas, weak warning systems, no cross-border plans

The current disaster may just be the harbinger of a far greater crisis unfolding across the wider Himalayan region, one that will not stop at Nepal's borders.

New Delhi: On 26 August, Nepal woke up to one of the most devastating floods in its recent history. By Friday, the death toll had climbed to at least 547, with around 1,500 people still missing, including 290 Indian tourists.

According to the latest satellite imagery, the tragedy originated beyond Nepal’s borders. High in the upper reaches of the Himalayas near the Nepal-Tibet border, a massive section of a glacier broke apart and plunged 1,200 metres into the valley below from a starting altitude of 5,200 metres.

Satellite images captured by ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre showed that about two-thirds of the glacier collapsed, triggering a colossal avalanche of ice, rock, and debris as it roared down the mountainside. The sheer force of the impact was so immense that, in the initial hours of the disaster, the US Geological Survey mistakenly attributed the resulting shockwaves to a magnitude 4.4 earthquake.

It was later revealed that the glacier had slammed into the valley floor with such force that it generated “earthquake-like” seismic energy equivalent to a magnitude 5.2 event.

For Nepal, the worst is far from over. The coming days will severely test the country’s early warning systems, disaster response capabilities, healthcare infrastructure, and, above all, community resilience.

Yet, this disaster may just be the harbinger of a far greater crisis unfolding across the wider Himalayan region, one that will not stop at Nepal’s borders. As temperatures rise, glaciers melt, and rivers swell far beyond their carrying capacities, this devastation is poised to become the new normal for the Himalayas.

Despite the looming threat, governments remain ill-prepared for this eventuality. The enormity of........

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