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Wednesday’s Nepal-Tibet floods that killed at least 273 people and left hundreds more missing were likely caused by a glacial collapse, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The American agency believes that a glacial collapse sparked seismic activity that led to the downstream impacts in Nepal and Tibet.
“This event was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake,” it said, adding that the seismic recordings were analyzed and found instead to be a “glacial collapse and debris flow,” per AFP.
Dr. Simon Cook, a glacier expert with the University of Dundee, told the BBC his team detected a lower part of a glacier in Nepal near the Langtang Lirung peak, about 15 kilometres west of the flooding site, had collapsed. Cook estimated that the glacier collapsed in the northwesterly direction and then travelled westbound downstream.
Climate change is resulting in glaciers melting worldwide, which increases the risks of glacial lake floods and glacial collapses. There are fears of further potential floods, with water trapped by piles of debris blocking the valley.
“With a blockage still lodged upstream on the Nepal-China border river, authorities warn a second flood may occur,” said Qianggong Zhang, head of climate and environmental risks at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, told AFP .
More than 1,300 still missing
On Thursday, rescue teams searched devastated zones as more than 1,300 people including two dozen Canadians are still missing a day after flash floods and landslides along the Nepal-Tibet border killed at least 273 people.
The phenomenon swept away entire villages, with homes engulfed and vehicles tossed around by the tsunami-like rumble of water and mud that struck villages and towns on the path of two rivers, Bhote Koshi and Trishuli.
Many of the missing are foreign tourists, including scores of Hindu pilgrims to Tibet’s sacred snow-capped Mount Kailash, AFP reported.
Emergency personnel raced to evacuate survivors from affected zones, fearing new flash floods.
Nepali police said they had recovered 270 bodies. Another 823 people, including 517 foreign tourists, were out of contact in the country.
China said 100 of its citizens are missing in Nepal.
Foreigners out of contact
Nepal’s tourism board said foreigners out of contact included those from India, Australia, Britain, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea and the U.S.
Twenty-four Canadians were reportedly among the hundreds of tourists missing, the tourism board said on Wednesday.
Promises of aid and assistance came in soon after reports of the scale of the disaster. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was sending out emergency supplies, including blankets, first aid kits, stretchers and body bags, per AFP.