NEPAL–TIBET: WHEN THE GLACIER GAVE WAY 🌎💔🙏

 NEPAL–TIBET: WHEN THE GLACIER GAVE WAY 🌎💔🙏

The news is calling this a “flash flood,” but that description doesn't begin to tell the story.

High in the Himalayas, a massive section of glacier broke away and plunged thousands of feet into the valley below, carrying ice and rock with it. The avalanche struck the Lhende River, temporarily blocking it. When that natural dam gave way, a tremendous surge of water, mud, rock and debris tore downstream through the mountain valleys of Tibet and Nepal.

Satellite images show the landscape before and after: green mountainsides transformed into enormous fields of brown debris, while rivers that normally occupy narrow channels spread dramatically through the valleys.

The United States Geological Survey has determined that the seismic energy initially mistaken for an earthquake was actually generated by the glacial collapse and debris flow — powerful enough to register approximately magnitude 5.2.

More than 300 people are now reported dead across Nepal and Tibet, with more than 1,300 still missing. Entire communities, roads, bridges and infrastructure have been swept away. Rescue workers are still trying to reach people cut off by the destruction.

Scientists are still determining exactly what caused the glacier to fail, but the disaster is another sobering reminder of how vulnerable the world's high mountains are becoming as temperatures rise, glaciers retreat and frozen landscapes become increasingly unstable.

We cannot know that climate change caused this single event. But we also cannot ignore the larger warning: a warming world is changing the behaviour of ice, water and mountains.

To the people of Nepal and Tibet, and to everyone who has lost someone or is still waiting for news:

Our deepest condolences.
Our prayers are with you.
May those still missing be found.
May the injured and displaced find safety.
And may those who have died rest in peace.

🙏🕊️🌎

Namaste.