BY Yashwant Dhwaj Shah

On 26th.August 2026, at 8.37 am an earthquake of 4.4 magnitude on the Richter scale stuck the Nepal – China border. By 8.44 am a glacial deposit at 5200 metres broke coming down with ice, boulders, mud, snow, slush and rocks just about 20 kms east of the Rasuwagadhi Nepal-China border. This ice-rock avalanche (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods ‘GLOF’) blocked the Lhende Khola River river (tributary of Bhote Koshi / Trishuli river of Nepal) creating a temporary lake / dam and ice quickly turned into water thus resulting in its burst with a violent wave rushing downstream into the Bhote-Koshi and Trishuli river where it is said within 30 minutes the level rose up to 20-30 metres taking with it everything that came on its way. Same Bhote Koshi river is known by the name of Gandak in India. Gyirong Port in China to several towns and villages in Nepal were severely devastated by the surge in water and with rocks, mud, slush and heavy boulders threatening power projects, communications network, towns, bridges, roads as it descended with much fury downhill. 430 MW of electricity was lost in a matter of minutes, roughly 12% of Nepal’s hydro power capacity.

The Himalayan mountain belt roughly 2500 kms in length covers from Pakistan to India, Nepal, Bhutan and China (Tibet Autonomous Region) with fringe overlaps of the mountain region also in Afghanistan and Myanmar. The greater Himalayas with 8 of the 14 highest peaks is in Nepal. Geologists put the formation of the Himalayas as a result of the two continental landmass collision : the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate with the intense compression pressure giving rise to the new chain of young fold mountains known as the ‘Himalayas’. The Himalayas are rising every year and there is intense underground activity resulting in being labelled as a high seismic zone.

Any floods or break of glacial ice can have devastating affect for the population down the streams & rivers to the extent of 200 – 300 kms down south of the natural calamity.

Nepal has faced many mammoth natural disasters from the 2015 earthquake that severely jolted the region to the flash floods of Rasuwagadhi on Friday the 26th.August 2026. Rasuwagadhi is a trading border point between Nepal and China at an altitude of 2800 metres asl and roughly 120 kms north of Kathmandu. As per reports coming from NDRRMA, the Nepal’s disaster authority, the European satellite imagery reports as well as Chinese government’s reports, there was a snow – rock avalanche (GLOF) which broke off in the glacial zone 20 kms northeast of Rasuwagadhi at the Nepal–China border. The sudden impact of the ‘glacier–inclusive–flood’ triggered a massive downstream of water and rocks resulting in hardly any time for pre-warning. The Friendship Bridge (Miteri Bridge), Timure customs, sections of Pasang-Lhamu Highway were destroyed and severe damage to the hydro-power dam and EV charging stations. Eye witness account of Rajeev Shrestha, a Timure flood survivor on camera said that 75% of the people in the affected area were swept away by the raging flood. Reports put 44 personnel of Nepal Army, 26 from Nepal Police and 9 APF personnel from Timure and Mailung posts as out of contact or missing.

The massive surge in water downstream in the Bhote – Kosi as well as Trishuli river systems ravaged the towns it passed through and warning was sounded in all affected regions of Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha as well as Chitwan with the world famous Chitwan National Park near the towns of Bharatpur, Butwal and Bhairhawa (known as ‘Siddharthnagar’). Nepal Telecom has announced all phone and data services have been made free in Dhading, Rasuwa and Chitwan for rescue and coordination. Kathmandu University as well as other higher education institutes have postponed all ongoing examinations under them till further notice. Early reports suggest that 9 bank branches and over 26 bank staff are missing in the floods.

There are reports of 5-6 elephants washed away to the Bahraich Indian border areas by the sudden surge in the river waters of Nepal. Rasuwagadhi is one of the principal overland routes for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Nepal. The road route from Kathmandu to Syabrubesi / Timure via Trishuli river and Dhunche and finally to the last border town of Rasuwagadhi in Nepal : all this route has been badly ravaged by the waters. Large number of local people, tourists from India and abroad are reported missing. Pilgrims towards the sacred Gosaikund Lake have been trapped while many are feared missing. Due to rising river waters and lurking danger of another surge, the Government of Nepal has closed down many highways including the Kathmandu – Naagdunga Route, Narayani Bridge, Narayanghat (enroute to Kathmandu), Mugling – Narayanghat Route (enroute to Kathmandu and Pokhara), Naagdunga – Dhading Route, Dhading – Mugling Route as well as Galchi – Trishuli Route. Alternate routes have been announced for those returning from Gosaikund Lake.

More than 2000 Nepal Army personnel, 3000 Nepal Police personnel, 1500 APF personnel supported by 12 helicopters are doing sorties for relief and rescue operations, 20 back-up helicopters and over 100 medical personnel have been pressed into emergency massive relief and rescue operations in the affected region. The Home Minister Sudan Gurung was seen overseeing despatch of emergency materials on Army trucks at 2.00 a.m. The World Bank, US Government, Indian Government have announced relief packages. Emergency toll free numbers have been announced. Voluntary donations have started pouring over from world over for Nepal Floods given on Prime Ministers Disaster Relief Fund (PMDRF), Singha Durbar (Kathmandu) branch and the 8 different bank accounts of the PMDRF.

There is no pre flood warning agreement between Nepal and China. China has warned that all the collected water due to avalanche has not yet drained off. Another sudden surge in water level cannot be ruled out so people residing in areas close to river have been asked to move to safer higher ground. Li Qiang, the PM of China has called for co-ordination with Nepal to manage risk. There are approximately 21 potentially dangerous glacial lakes that have been identified in Nepal, while 47 such lakes across major river basins (Nepal – 21, Tibet – 25, India – 1). If any of these lakes burst, millions of cubic metres of water, ice, debris can rush downstream where every minute matters to save life and property. In the fragile Himalayan zone, close monitoring, sharing of data, early warning systems, safer infrastructure, prepared and informed local communities can reduce the risk of lurking danger.

In Nepal’s affected region, helpline for 24/7 emergency health, support and coordination call 1115, visit setu.ndrrma.gov.np for rescue and relief items, Nepal Police 100, APF 1114, Ambulance 102, Rasuwa Police 98512-54960, Nuwakot Police 98512-82380, Dhading Police 98512-29860, Chitwan Police 98550-13999. Kathmandu Valley can face power shortage due to the massive loss of electricity and power plants in the Rasuwagadi – Nuwakot - Dhading flash floods.

Bihar and UP states in India have put NDRF, SSB, police teams, irrigation and forest department on high alert monitoring the rise in water level of the rivers coming down from Nepal. Bihar is highly prone to flooding as literally 5 rivers coming down from Tibet via Nepal enter Bihar namely Kosi, Mahananda, Kamla, Bagmati and Gandak rivers.

(The Writer is the grandson of Late Dr.K.I.Singh, Ex-Prime Minister of Nepal. He is the Director of YANE Global Services. Views expressed are personal.)