Unstable Tibetan Plateau risks cascading disasters as glacier losses mount in Nepal, China

Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau are likely to become more unstable, which may lead to more collapses and collateral disasters, a senior climate official warns as the death toll from last week’s catastrophic landslide and flood on the China-Nepal border continues to rise.

“Over the past 60 years, the glacier area on the Tibetan Plateau has shrunk by around 24 per cent, with around 7,000 small glaciers disappearing completely,” Gao Rong, deputy director of China’s National Climate Centre, told a press briefing on Wednesday.

“Looking ahead, the structural stability of glaciers across the Tibetan Plateau will decline further. Glacial disasters are likely to become more frequent and could amplify in destruction and reach through cascading effects.”

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China-Nepal disaster: early study shows no one could have outrun debris flow

China has reported 21 deaths and 541 people missing as of Wednesday after a glacier collapsed at Langtang Lirung on the Nepalese side of the border on August 26. In Nepal, the death toll rose to 1,114 by Wednesday afternoon, with about 3,900 people still missing.

Beijing has stepped up cross-border support to its neighbour. Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said on Wednesday that China’s second batch of emergency supplies had arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday afternoon, accompanied by five DNA identification experts. A third shipment and a second expert team were being prepared.

After working for seven days, Beijing on Wednesday cleared the road to Gyirong Port, which was hit hardest on the Chinese side by the mudslide. Heavy machinery has reached the checkpoint area to aid a deeper search.

The mudslide created by the glacier collapse travelled 22km (13.7 miles) along the valley and reached the Gyirong Port border crossing in just seven minutes, according to an initial assessment last week.