The sheer scale of destruction amid Himalayan glacier collapse disaster is horrifying, as is presumptive human toll. This was no mere flash flood or mudslide--it was more akin to a geologic-scale debris avalanche or "inland tsunami." The footage emerging is almost unbelievable.
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The immediate priority in the aftermath is still search and rescue and acute-phase disaster recovery, of course. But the broader context here is also important, as this is a classic "compound hazard" and subsequently "complex disaster."
I am neither a geologist nor a glaciologist--though I am a climate scientist, and there likely is a climate change contribution to this disaster. Mountain glaciers are melting rapidly, & mountainsides buttressing them are destabilizing. But exact mechanisms here remain TBD.
