(TibetanReview.net, Oct05’24) – Some 224 people had died, more than 150 others were injured and 24 missing as of Oct 2 due to disasters caused by incessant rain in much of eastern and central Nepal, including the capital Kathmandu, and China’s withholding of vital information on glacial lakes under its control in Tibet could be partly responsible for it, according to thediplomat.com Oct 5.
In addition to the loss of life, many homes, power plants, and roads have been damaged by floods and landslides, serving as a reminder of Nepal’s vulnerability to climate change, the report said.
“I’ve never before seen flooding on this scale in Kathmandu,” Arun Bhakta Shrestha, the climate and environmental risks lead at the Hindu Kush Himalayan knowledge centre, part of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), has said.
Many glaciers in the Himalayan region have retreated in recent years, with melt water collecting in glacial lakes. These lakes could breach – and have breached – with the potential to cause massive floods, endangering downstream communities.
And Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has expressed disappointment that China has been withholding vital information on glacial lakes under its control in Tibet, the report noted.
The report cited the department’s head, Jagadishwor Karmacharya, as having told the website Climate News that it is essential to obtain transparent information from the Chinese government in order to reduce the impact of floods.
Karmacharya has said that China, Nepal, and India must collaborate to prevent disasters. However, despite Nepal having asked it for many years to supply data about its glacial lakes, China has not met promises to do so.
Tibet has sometimes been described by geologists as Asia’s water tower, with many major rivers starting there, supplying water to nearly two billion people downstream.
China’s environmentally unsustainable development and related activities have partly been blamed for the worsening situation in Tibet, with devastating consequences both for the local Tibetan people and in downstream countries, including China itself.
“Poor environmental tactics have displaced Tibetan communities, destroyed religious sites, and degraded local ecosystems,” Tencho Gyatso, President of Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet, has said.
“China’s occupation and isolation of Tibet creates a global blind spot, which puts at risk the lives and livelihoods of 1.8 billion people downstream,” she has said.
India too has been complaining about China’s failure to provide hydrological data from Tibet that should enable it to take measures to avoid or minimize disasters.