Risks and disasters in mountains are increasing – a trend driven by increased global temperatures due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, the intensity of disasters in mountains is also increasing. Last week’s glacier collapse and devastating flood in the Rasuwa and Nuwakot Districts of Nepal, is an example.
A glacier collapse triggered a rock and ice-avalanche. As the ice and rock fell about 1,200 metres, friction and heat melted the ice mass, turning it into water. The massive flood sped down the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers at high speed, due to the steep gradient of the mountain valley. It traveled approximately 100 kilometres downstream, destroying infrastructure, farms and settlements along the river, resulting in a large number of deaths and missing people. Search and rescue efforts are still underway. Investigations and analysis are still being carried out to understand how exactly the glacier broke off.
This type of event is exactly what UNU-EHS Senior Expert, Dr. Dipesh Chapagain, is researching with the aim of reducing disaster risk. Dr. Chapagain is a mountain expert, whose work focuses on disaster and climate-related hazards in mountain regions, such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), which is a more common type of glacial hazard.
In response to the flood, the Nepalese expert has helped bring context and knowledge to the unfolding situation. Appearing in media interviews, Dr. Chapagain has explained how these risks develop, how mountain hazards turn into disasters and how exposure to vulnerable downstream communities resulted in the catastrophic event.
“A disaster of this scale can easily cross the response capacity of any single country, particularly a least-developed country like Nepal,” says Dr. Chapagin. “So urgent, global support is needed to strengthen glacier monitoring and early-warning systems.”
Dr. Chapagain so far has appeared in UN News (also Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Kiswahili), El País, EFE, Deutsche Welle, The Telegraph (India) here and here, Down to Earth, Plural.India, NDTV, and Infobae.
