Nepal is grappling with a surge in complex, interconnected climate-induced disasters, including devastating floods and landslides that killed over 1,400 people in August and dozens more in September, prompting calls for stronger regional cooperation and climate diplomacy.
On August 26, an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-China border, approximately 20 kilometres northeast of the Rasuwa Gadhi border point, triggered a debris flow in the Lhende Khola, which then entered the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems. This catastrophic event, which scientists are still investigating, generated seismic energy equivalent to a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. The flood travelled nearly 100 kilometres, causing extensive damage to border infrastructure, settlements, roads, and hydropower facilities in Nepal’s Rasuwa district and China’s Jilong-Kerung border area in Tibet.
Authorities reported on October 1, 2026, that over 1,400 people died and more than 5,200 remain missing. Japan’s disaster relief team is assisting with victim identification, but only about 110 bodies have been identified due to their poor condition. The Rahughat Hydropower project sustained damage to its tailrace gate and duct, with water entering the turbine floor, requiring an estimated 10 days to resume operations.
Nepal received little respite, as persistent heavy rain between September 24 and 27 triggered widespread floods and landslides across the country. According to Online Nepal, these events killed 35 people, injured 15, and led to the rescue of 2,695 individuals by September 29, 2026. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), Nepal’s disaster management body, reported at least 21 deaths, five missing, and five injured during this period, with 143 homes completely destroyed and 51 partially damaged, affecting 747 families. Baglung district alone saw 12 deaths from landslides. Of 147 damaged road sections nationwide, 125 have been repaired and reopened for traffic.
Climate change impacts and calls for action
The pattern of these disasters underscores Nepal’s vulnerability to climate change, despite its minimal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. The Hindu Kush Himalaya region is experiencing significant warming, leading to changing glaciers and increasingly unstable permafrost and mountain slopes. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), a US scientific agency, describes the August event as a catastrophic debris flow and flood likely triggered by rapid slope failure involving a glacier. Separately, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre for the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, referred to it as an ice-rock avalanche originating on Langtang Lirung. These events are part of a wider risk landscape that Nepal and other Himalayan countries must prepare for.
Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal emphasized the need to strengthen domestic climate risk reduction, infrastructure development, and disaster management to enhance Nepal’s climate diplomacy. The Foreign Ministry has established a Climate Diplomacy Branch to integrate diplomatic efforts with Nepal’s internal climate realities. The ‘Kathmandu Climate Week 2026’, which concluded on October 4, 2026, issued a 16-point public appeal prioritizing climate justice, calling for a ‘Climate Justice Act’, and ensuring stakeholder participation in the proposed ‘Nepal Climate Change Policy, 2083’.
Regional cooperation essential
The severity of these transboundary disasters highlights the urgent need for a “Himalayan hazard compact.” Nepal and China already cooperate on trade and hydropower, and disaster-risk reduction should become another area of practical collaboration, including real-time data exchange, monitoring, joint early-warning protocols, and coordinated search and rescue. Such efforts should extend to India, Bhutan, Pakistan, and other Hindu Kush Himalayan countries, with institutions like ICIMOD providing scientific expertise and a platform for cooperation.
Treating early-warning systems as essential infrastructure, with sensors, satellite analysis, trained local observers, and clear evacuation protocols, is crucial.
Scientists are still examining the exact unfolding of the August disaster and the precise contribution of climate change to this individual event. Challenges remain in ensuring climate finance reaches vulnerable communities due to limited access to capital, weak innovation systems, unclear policies, lack of climate education, and poor coordination among government, businesses, and communities.
