Is nature solely to blame for the dreadful disaster in Nepal?
A CROWD of people who have lost their loved ones has gathered outside an army camp in Nuwakot, Nepal.
Trembling fingers trace the lists of names pasted on the wall, hoping to find news of a dear one. As the lists grow longer, the hours of waiting become increasingly unbearable.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the devastating floods and glacier collapses along the Nepal-Tibet border has reached 676 so far. Approximately 3,000 people are missing, 2,426 in Nepal and 554 in Tibet.
Rescue operations are underway, but due to the mountainous terrain, mud, and debris, every passing hour is now a battle between hope and apprehension.
It is easy to dismiss this catastrophe simply as a ‘natural disaster.’ However, scientists are not taking that easy path.
Subsequent analysis of seismic data and satellite imagery revealed that a massive collapse of glaciers and rock from the upper reaches of Langtang Lirung Mountain had triggered the devastating torrent of water.
The question arises: why did that glacier become so unstable? According to scientists, abnormal warming weakened the bond between ice and rock; water seeped into the fissures, compromising the mountain’s stability.
Glaciers and permafrost are melting, and the very ice that once held the mountain together is gradually losing its grip.
This incident in Nepal is merely a catastrophic manifestation of that long-term process.
Therefore, the question is why are the mountains more unstable today than in the past? The answer points back to our civilization.
The impact of the vast quantities of greenhouse gases we have released into the atmosphere, by burning coal, oil, and gas, is no longer confined to temperature statistics; that warming is altering the very geography of the mountains.
Scientists concerned believe that these risks will not remain confined to Nepal’s borders.
The lives and livelihoods of billions of people across Asia depend on the rivers flowing down from Himalayan glaciers.
They warned that while excessive melting cause’s rivers to swell today, the gradual depletion of these very glaciers would lead to a water crisis tomorrow.
This disaster in Nepal has laid bare a harsh truth before us. The roar of a devastating mountain flash flood is not always audible beforehand.
Sometimes, it begins with a slight rise in temperature, a hairline fracture in a glacier, or the loosening of an invisible bond between ice and rock.
If one day, a massive torrent of mud and water surges down the mountain, relatives of the victims are left searching for their loved ones’ names on lists posted on an army camp’s walls.
