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Translated by: Flutura Gashi-Mehmeti
- August 27, 2026 11:09
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Preliminary investigations have shown that a collapsed glacier may have caused the flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border, highlighting the problem of rapid ice melt in the Himalayas, scientists have told the BBC.
Initial reports of an earthquake led many people to believe that the tremors had triggered a landslide, which then caused the flooding that has killed at least 177 people.
However, the US Geological Survey (USGS) later clarified that the disaster was caused by a "glacial collapse", which occurs when a glacier or part of it breaks apart.
The impact of the collapsed glacier at the bottom of a valley was so powerful that it registered as a magnitude 5.2 earthquake, according to USGS data and scientists who analyzed the event.
Dr. Simon Cook, a glaciologist at the University of Dundee, told the BBC that his team had discovered that the lower part of a glacier in Nepal, near the Langtang Lirung peak, about 15 kilometers west of where the floods occurred, had collapsed.
He estimated that the glacier had collapsed in a northwesterly direction and then moved westward, downstream of the river.
An analysis by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an intergovernmental scientific institution, has found that "an avalanche of ice and rocks originating from a high-altitude area" may have occurred.
This caused "a large amount of ice and rock debris" to enter the Lende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhote Koshi River, causing a sudden increase in the river's flow, which transported water, sediment and large rocks downstream.
The center has found that water levels in downstream rivers have risen by 7 to 9 meters within 30 minutes, while several water monitoring stations were swept away or damaged.
The area is surrounded by steep mountains and videos of the flood show water and debris rushing down the riverbed.
It is not clear what caused the glacier to collapse on Wednesday.
However, scientists have been warning for years about the melting of ice and thawing of permafrost (permanently frozen ground) in the Himalayas, as a result of rising temperatures and climate change.
An analysis published by ICIMOD earlier this year found that glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region are currently losing ice at a rate twice as fast as in 2000.
This increases risks such as flooding.
