Nepal glacier collapse raises repeat flood fears

Scientists warned that the Nepal glacier collapse that unleashed deadly flooding could leave nearby mountain sections unstable, raising the risk of another collapse, while cautioning that it is too early to say what role climate change played.

Nepal issued an alert Friday over a large body of water formed in China's Tibet region after a section of glacier collapsed two days earlier. The disaster killed at least 584 people, and more than 2,400 remained missing.

Simon Cox, principal scientist at New Zealand's GNS Science research institute, told AFP that removing part of a mountain could destabilise adjacent material. “You may well have more material to fall down right from up at the source area, and the same thing could happen immediately again,” he said.

The United States Geological Survey said the flood was triggered by a glacier collapse so violent that it generated energy equivalent to a magnitude 5.2 earthquake and caused numerous landslides.

Etienne Berthier, a glaciologist at France's CNRS research centre, said similar events elsewhere could not be ruled out, but that the Himalayas' terrain and high tectonic activity can amplify such hazards. Tristram Hales, a professor of environmental hazards at Cardiff University, said extremely hazardous flows have increased globally over the past decade or so.

Several scientists urged caution over linking the Nepal disaster to climate change. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said climate change is altering glaciers, snow, permafrost and mountain slopes across the Hindu Kush Himalaya, but that it is too early to determine its role in this specific event.