By Gurkha Insight • Himalaya • Aug 29, 2025 20:13 PM • 55 views
After yet another devastating flood caused by glacier melt in the Himalayas, officials on both sides of the border will share information that could save lives!
The decision to collaborate came about a month after a lake that had formed on top of a glacier in China’s high mountains burst 35 kilometres upstream from the Rasuwagadhi border-point with Nepal. It sent water coursing down the Bhotekoshi River, devastating areas on both sides.
According to local officials, 11 people died in the July 8 disaster and 18 remain missing in Nepal, while 11 were swept away in China. The flash flood caused infrastructure losses worth around $100 million, including roads and houses, and has disrupted cross-border trade.
Before this latest disaster, the issue of sharing climate-related data between the two countries was mostly limited to discussions among Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology and a few experts.
A year ago, after two lakes burst in Nepal, Climate Home News interviewed the head of that department, Jagadishwor Karmacharya, who warned that the Chinese government’s failure to provide information about the state of its glacial lakes was endangering mountain-dwellers in neighbouring Nepal.
Now, July’s flood has elevated the matter to a higher political level. Nepal’s federal government has decided to collaborate with China to ensure early warning and preparedness for future incidents as the planet warms.
Climate change is speeding up glacial melt around the world and boosting the threat from glacial lake outburst floods, known as GLOFs.
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