How a Himalayan avalanche unleashed a trail of destruction across Nepal

By Al Jazeera English

Community Score: 50% | 6.8K views | 1mo

0 community ratings: null thumbs up, null thumbs down

It's been two weeks since floods swept through communities in the Himalayas. When a section of Langtang Lirung mountain and the glacier above it collapsed, millions of cubic metres of rock and ice fell more than a kilometre to the valley below. The impact registered as a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. The mass of debris travelled more than 14 kilometres in seven minutes towards the China-Nepal border crossing, which was obliterated. The surge of melting ice, rock and sediment then plunged down the Trishuli valley, gathering more water and gouging chunks out of the riverbank. Workers on site filmed its approach before fleeing, but hundreds of others were buried. The avalanche swept away bridges, buildings and entire villages, carrying boulders bigger than cars. Within an hour, it had left a trail of devastation stretching more than 50 kilometres, while flooding continued south for more than 100 kilometres. Al Jazeera's Daniel McKerrell explains. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJS

Tags: Bhotekoshi River, Bhotekoshi Trishuli flood, Gyirong Port, Himalayan avalanche, Himalayan disaster, Himalayan flood disaster, Himalayan glacier collapse, Langtang Lirung, Langtang Lirung glacier collapse, Lhende Khola, Nepal China border flood, Nepal Tibet floods, Nepal flash floods, Nepal floods 2026, Nepal glacier collapse, Nepal natural disaster, Nepal tunnel rescue, Trishuli River, Trishuli Valley, Trishuli flood