GLACIAL COLLAPSE
The USGS said a glacial collapse caused seismic activity and had “catastrophic” downstream impacts in Nepal and Tibet.
“This event was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake,” it said, but the seismic recordings were analysed and it was found instead to be a “glacial collapse and debris flow”.
Fears of more potential floods remain, with water trapped by the immense 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.
Kathmandu’s Flood Forecasting Division issued a “special notice” on Thursday, warning of a growing lake behind debris left by the landslide and urging extreme caution.
Scores of Hindu devotees from across the world are among the hundreds missing on the border, Indian spiritual leader Sadhguru said on Thursday.
They were returning from a holy pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, on the Chinese side of the frontier, when they were caught in the floods at an immigration post.
“The entire group was there in the building,” Sadhguru said in a video message to his millions of followers, weeping as he spoke from Tibet, with the anguished wails of other pilgrims heard in the background.
“This is a terrible and extraordinary event.”
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