Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah stated that the devastating landslide that occurred last week in the Himalayas "was not a common event," but rather caused by climate change, and demanded international action. The enormous wave of icy water and debris, triggered by the collapse of a glacier on the China-Nepal border, left more than 930 dead and approximately 4,500 missing. Kathmandu warned that reconstruction costs could reach "billions of dollars."
The prime minister made the statement in a social media post on Monday, classifying the Bhote Koshi River flood, in Rasuwa, as "one of the most serious disasters in the region," caused by climate factors. The tragedy mobilized rescue teams carrying out operations to try to locate hundreds of missing people, including searches in tunnels with controlled detonation. A school principal managed to save 900 students ten minutes before the flood reached a school in Nepal.
The country began burials of the victims while the count of dead and missing continues to rise. The catastrophe sparked an appeal for international solidarity and concrete measures to address the effects of climate change in vulnerable regions like the Himalayas.
