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What Happened
A wall of ice and rock, moving like wet concrete
Scientists believe a chunk of glacier broke away above the Bhotekoshi/Rasuwa river system, releasing a debris flood equivalent to hundreds of thousands of dump-truck loads of rock and ice. It cut the only overland trade route between Kathmandu and Tibet, damaged 14 hydropower and solar installations, and left phone networks — and entire settlements — dark and disconnected for days.
Rasuwa, one of the districts hit hardest, was still recovering from the 2015 earthquake when this flood struck. For families there, this is the second time in a decade they have had to start over.
A river in Rasuwa District — the same river systems now swollen with glacial debris. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
“A whole village seems to have been washed away.”
— Nepali health official, on the scale of destruction in the flood zone
- CAUSEA glacial ice collapse on the Nepal–China border triggered the flash flood; a second at-risk glacial lake is still being monitored for renewed flooding.
- REACHVillages, roads, bridges, schools and hydropower infrastructure across Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts, Bagmati Province.
- CHILDRENMore than 17,000 children are in urgent need of assistance; at least 18 schools were destroyed and 20 more damaged.
- WHAT'S NEXTClearing debris and rebuilding roads, homes and water systems will take months — and the emotional toll will last far longer.
