WASHINGTON: Deadly surges of mud and water that hit “like liquid concrete” are practically unattainable to foretell and cannot be outrun.
The reason for the deadly landslides and floods along the Nepal-Tibet border just isn’t but sure, however specialists say the danger of such occasions is compounded by the acute topography of the Himalayas.
Not less than 160 had been killed and lots of are lacking within the wake of the catastrophe Wednesday morning.
Video from the Chinese language facet reveals a raging wall of mud and particles crashing over a constructing a number of tales excessive, engulfing it and sweeping away buses and vehicles like they’re toys.
It’s too quickly to attract any agency hyperlinks to local weather change, however there are well-documented traits within the “Roof of the World” which have elevated the probability of such hazards.
LANDSLIDE, THEN TREMORS, SAYS USGS
Nepal’s Overseas Minister Shishir Khanal stated an earthquake doubtless triggered a landslide that in flip blocked a river, sending water gushing downstream after it will definitely breached the obstruction.
However in a brand new word, the USA Geological Survey stated that whereas the occasion was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake, “extra evaluation of lengthy interval seismic waves signifies that the seismic vitality was as a substitute generated by a landslide”.
A preliminary evaluation by the Kathmandu-based Worldwide Centre for Built-in Mountain Growth (ICIMOD) discovered “no anomalies” from the Chinese language facet of the border.
“We imagine a rock-ice avalanche occurred in Nepal, blocking the Lhende river and inflicting the cascading flood occasion,” Sarthak Shrestha, a distant sensing and geo data analyst with the intergovernmental institute, informed AFP.
Hatim Sharif, a hydrologist on the College of Texas San Antonio, informed AFP one factor that struck him was the dearth of rainfall beforehand.
“That defeats basically each operational flood warning system on the planet,” he stated.
