<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/28/nepal-tibet-flood-climate-crisis-global-heating>
"As a Nepali citizen working on international climate policy for more than a
decade, it is difficult to look at the harrowing images coming out of the
catastrophic flash flood that thundered down valleys in Nepal, sweeping down
the Lhende Khola, Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers, and not feel angry.
Not just because of the destruction, but because it comes after years of
warnings from scientists and civil society that a rapidly warming planet would
make disasters more frequent, more intense and harder to predict. This is what
the cost of delaying global climate action looks like.
On 26 August, a wall of ice, water, rock and mud tore through communities,
destroying homes, markets, bridges, roads and hydropower infrastructure in
Nepal and Tibet. Hundreds of people were killed and many more remain missing.
The devastation came with terrifying speed. For people living along the rivers
and the tourists trekking in the hills, there was little time between the
hazard emerging high in the mountains and destruction reaching the valleys
below.
The immediate questions are rightly being asked about what happened and whether
people could have been warned. Nepal needs stronger early warning systems,
better monitoring of glaciers and unstable slopes, cross-border communication
between Nepal and Tibet and greater investment in preparedness.
But Nepal’s flash floods expose something more fundamental: the problem is not
the absence of a warning system – it is a climate crisis that is producing
hazards that behave differently from those the systems were designed to
detect."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
