Nearly two-thirds of a glacier located at a high altitude near the Nepal-Tibet border suddenly broke off on Wednesday and fell about 1.2 kilometers into the catchment area of the Lhende Khola river. According to scientists and satellite analysis, the incident triggered a dangerous chain reaction, leading to a devastating deluge of debris in the Bhote Koshi-Trishuli corridor. This entire incident of glacier collapse has happened on the Nepali side of the border.
The disaster has been revealed by satellite images analyzed by the National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The glacier which appeared completely safe in the Sentinel-2 image of August 24, appeared to be extensively broken in the Landsat-9 image of August 26. According to estimates by geomorphologist Daniel Sugar of the University of Calgary, 200 square meters of ice broke from an altitude of about 5,200 meters and fell to the valley floor, converting a huge amount of gravitational energy into motion.
While falling, this huge piece of ice collected rocks, new ice and silt in its path, temporarily stopping the flow of the river. Earth Sciences New Zealand scientist Simon Cox and University of Texas hydrologist Hatim Sharif have compared this debris flow to 'liquid concrete', which had the power to carry away everything heavy in its path. The tremors of this powerful event have also been recorded on seismometers.