Before Nepal flood catastrophe, officials sought earlier warnings from China

Three months before a wall of water, mud and rock tore through a Himalayan valley, Nepal had asked China for stronger cooperation on warnings about glacier and flood risks.

Officials from Nepal and China met in Kathmandu on May 27 to discuss monitoring and responding to floods, weather events and glacier-related hazards. The Nepali side proposed joint risk-reduction measures, including inventories of glacial lakes and hazard mapping.

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What we actually wanted from them, and still want, is if there are early movements of glaciers and early movements around that area, we would want to know a bit early.

Two Nepali officials told Reuters they did not receive as much information as they wanted after the meeting. Sauhardra Joshi, a hydrologist with Nepal’s Flood Forecasting Division, said officials wanted earlier notice of changes in the glaciers and surrounding area.

“What we actually wanted from them, and still want, is if there are early movements of glaciers and early movements around that area, we would want to know a bit early,” Joshi said.

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Timely manner

Another Nepali hydrologist, Binod Parajuli, said Chinese representatives told the meeting they lacked the mandate to sign an agreement addressing Nepal’s requests and wanted further discussions. China’s embassy in Nepal later said Beijing and Kathmandu had stayed in close contact and made “substantial progress” in promoting cross-border disaster information sharing.

Officials and experts did not blame either country for the disaster. They said slower cooperation was not a significant factor in the glacier collapse and mudslide, which has killed nearly 800 people in Nepal and China and left more than 3,000 missing. Nepalese officials said their priority remained deeper cooperation with China.

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Substantial progress