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Nepal is grappling with heavy losses and a daunting reconstruction challenge one month after a tsunami-like flood tore through the Himalayan country following the collapse of a high-altitude glacier and mountain mass on the China-Nepal border.
The disaster on August 26 sent a huge volume of rock, ice, water and debris racing down a valley, causing widespread destruction. Scientists have linked the extreme event to the effects of climate change.
Debris surged downhill
At 8:37 am local time on August 26, a massive section of ice and rock broke away from the northern face of Nepal’s Langtang Lirung mountain, sending debris cascading down the valley.
The collapse began at an altitude of around 5,200 metres, involving a section more than one kilometre wide and about 700 metres in vertical extent.
The rock and ice plunged about 800 metres onto a debris-covered glacier before surging downhill and briefly blocking the Lhende River. Water and debris subsequently burst downstream.
The debris travelled around 20 kilometres and descended 1,700 metres at Rasuwagadhi in just seven minutes, according to Sudan Bikash Maharjan, a geologist at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.
“The elevation difference is high, within a very short length,” Maharjan told AFP. “So it just rushed down like a bullet train.”
Heavy human toll
Nepal’s disaster authority says 1,451 bodies have been recovered from rubble and mud, while more than 5,700 people remain missing.
Hundreds of workers at hydropower projects were among those swept away, while foreign tourists and pilgrims were also caught in the floodwaters.
Authorities have faced major difficulties identifying the victims through DNA testing.
With morgues overwhelmed, many bodies have been buried in mass graves after their DNA samples were recorded. So far, only around 100 victims have been identified.
On the Chinese side of the border, where images showed a border post destroyed by the disaster, state media have reported 43 deaths and 519 people missing.
