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                    "The disaster in the border region between China and Nepal was as sudden as it was unexpected: Within just 10 minutes, enormous volumes of water and debris swept 20 kilometers downstream on Wednesday, with devastating consequences for thousands of people in the region.\n\nFlash floods are a frequent occurrence in the Himalayas. \"They are more the rule than the exception,\" says Niels Hovius, head of the Geomorphology Section at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam. He has worked in the Himalayas and other mountainous regions for many years and is an expert on early warning systems.\n\nWhat triggered the flash flood?\n\nScientific data indicate that the disaster began with a glacier collapse in the northern part of the Langtang massif:\u00a0a large amount of ice broke away and turned into a massive ice avalanche. The Langtang massif is located in central Nepal near the border with China.Devastating flash floods hit northern NepalTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video\n\n\"This glacier collapse sent huge amounts of ice rapidly downhill,\" says Hovius. The heat generated by friction melted the ice into water, which then swept up debris and mud.\u00a0The resulting mudflow moved downhill at speeds \"reached by passenger cars on German highways.\"\n\nSeismological instruments recorded an earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale at the time of the glacier collapse. However, Hovius says, it was not a \"classic\" or tectonic earthquake. Instead, the instruments measured the force of the falling glacier.\n\nWhy can flash floods in the Himalayas be so devastating?\n\nFlash floods in high mountain regions can be triggered in different ways \u2014 by glacier collapses or by so-called glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs, or Glacier Lake Outburst Floods).\n\nIn such cases, the topography around a glacial lake suddenly changes, for example when a slope collapses into the lake. The large volume\u00a0of water that suddenly spills over the lake's banks can then turn into torrents rushing downstream. In this particular case, however, it is clear that this was not a GLOF, says Hovius.\n\nLandslides can also cause deadly mudflows without any glaciers or glacial lakes being involved. In the Himalayas, all three types of events are possible, and historical data show that all three occur regularly, Hovius says.\n\nCompared with the Alps, the valleys of the Himalayas are relatively narrow.\u00a0The water and mud cannot spread out but are instead forced into a confined space, increasing their depth and speed.Alps warming fast: Europe\u2019s water lifeline is running dryTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video\n\nIn addition to the speed of the water and debris, the extent of the devastation caused by a flash flood depends on how far local populations are\u00a0from the\u00a0source.\n\nHow can people be protected from flash floods?\n\nNepal\u00a0faces two major challenges. Many people have settled along rivers in the valleys of the Himalayas \u2014 in precisely the areas that are vulnerable to flash floods. Secondly,\u00a0there are very few early warning systems in the country, which is one of the poorest in Asia.\n\nEven with a timely warning, the particularly devastating flash flood would have given people only a few minutes to reach safety. Hovius describes a flood that occurred in the same region last year. It was smaller, and therefore less severe. At the time, it took the water an hour to reach a settlement \u2014 enough time for people to escape if they had received a timely warning.\n\n\"There are initiatives in Nepal to establish local acoustic early warning systems,\" says Hovius. However, these systems are available only on a very limited scale. At most, they cover one percent of areas at risk. The GFZ researcher adds that\u00a0mobile phones should be used to send people warnings via push notifications. Hovius is researching how the data needed for such a system could be generated.\n\nChecks should also be made on how settlements are planned, Hovius says. At present, the bulk\u00a0of a community's infrastructure is concentrated along rivers. \"People have moved down from the mountains and settled in the valleys over the past few decades. Perhaps it would make sense to move back to higher ground.\"Are flash floods in mountainous areas\u00a0more frequent amid climate change?\n\n\"Attributing individual events to climate change is always difficult,\" Hovius says. But it is clear that glaciers in high mountain regions become less stable as temperatures rise. Larger volumes of water are also accumulating in glacial lakes, making GLOFs more likely.\n\nAs for the current flash flood, it is too early to say whether climbing temperatures caused the glacier to collapse. Flash floods have long been a regular occurrence in the Himalayas. \"But I think it is likely that we will see more and more of these events,\" Hovius says, warning\u00a0that future disasters\u00a0could be even\u00a0more serious.\n\nThis article was originally published in German."
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