A wall of ice, rock and mud tore through Nepal and Tibet this week, killing hundreds of people. Scientists believe the disaster began when part of a glacier and the mountainside beneath it collapsed. Though it is unclear what set it off, it has raised a wider question: are the Himalayas becoming a more dangerous place to live?
High on Langtang Lirung, a 7,000-metre mountain on the Nepal-Tibet border, the collapse of the mountainside and glacier sent a mass of ice, rock and debris crashing into the Lhende Khola river below. It grew as it travelled, picking up sediment and water before surging downstream into Nepal’s Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts.
