China received the first warning. The flood struck Gyirong on the Tibetan side, 45 minutes before reaching downstream communities in Nepal. That was plenty of time to take measures to warn the neighboring nations.
No effective warning reached Nepal. In a disaster moving across borders, even minutes could have saved lives. And China had 45 minutes to do it, which is the difference between evacuation and mass death.
China initially blamed an earthquake. The USGS later concluded that the seismic signal came from the massive glacier and debris collapse itself.
China is transforming the region. Highways, railways, dams and settlements are being forced through one of Earth’s most fragile and seismically active mountain systems.
Chinese scientists warned Beijing. They identified unstable slopes, weak geological cohesion and the danger of cascading failures. yet construction continued.
