Glacier Collapse Caused Deadly Nepal-Tibet Flood, Scientists Say

At first, Nepali officials blamed a magnitude 4.4 earthquake. But the United States Geological Survey (USGS) later said that no earthquake had happened. Instead, seismic instruments recorded a huge mass of rock and ice breaking off a glacier and crashing onto a valley floor, with the force of a magnitude 5.2 landslide. Dr Simon Cook, a glacier expert at the University of Dundee, traced the collapse to a glacier near the Langtang Lirung peak. Nepal's disaster authority said satellite pictures showed the ice and rock falling into the Lhende River, where the debris mixed into a fast, heavy flow of mud and stone that rushed down the valley. Scientists say two causes combine: the Himalayas are still rising, which makes the glaciers steeper, while warmer temperatures melt the ice and frozen soil that hold the mountainsides in place.

Downstream, the Trishuli River rose about eight metres in half an hour, and survivors said a wall of water arrived with no warning. The Nepali army rescued more than 100 people by helicopter, and the Red Cross said about 1,200 villagers had lost their homes. The missing included people from India, the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada. Many were travelling to Kailash Mansarovar, a holy place for Hindus and Buddhists.