More than 1 billion people “rely on the waters coming from the Himalayas,” said Izabella Koziell of the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka. “It can mean increased flooding. It can mean more variable water flows … If they start melting fast, you just have less water. Then the implications are massive.”
The recent tragedy encapsulated the potent mix of natural and human-made dangers.
According to ICIMOD, the rockslide on a nearby mountain melted the ice and snow in its way, smashing through two hydropower plants in its path: the Rishi Ganga plant, near Reni, and the under-construction Tapovan Vishnugad further down river. Their presence multiplied the economic and human toll, their workers accounting for many of the deaths.
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