Nepal and China Discussed Disaster Risks Before Deadly Tragedy

Three months before floods and landslides killed hundreds in a valley along the Nepal-China border, officials from both countries met in Kathmandu to discuss the dangers they were meant to monitor together.

The May 27 meeting brought together 10 Nepalese officials and about a dozen Chinese officials, including representatives from Tibet. Nepal’s agenda called for stronger cooperation in tracking and responding to floods, severe weather and glacier-related threats. It also urged joint risk-reduction measures, including audits of glacial-lake inventories and hazard mapping.

But two Nepalese officials told Reuters that the information they received from China after the meeting fell short of expectations. They said they had hoped for more data on glacier risks and water levels, warning that inadequate sharing could hinder their ability to forecast and prepare for a major disaster.

“What we actually wanted from them and still hope for today is that if there is early movement of a glacier and movement around the area, we want to know about it earlier,” said Sauhardra Joshi, a hydrologist with Nepal’s Flood Forecasting Division who attended the May meeting.

No official or expert has blamed either country for the disaster. A glacier collapse triggered a devastating landslide that killed nearly 800 people in the two countries, while more than 3,000 remained missing according to the latest figures cited. The recovery cost was estimated at roughly one-tenth of Nepal’s annual economic output.

Nepalese officials said their priority now was to deepen cooperation with China. Government hydrologist Binod Parajuli said Chinese officials told Nepal they lacked the mandate to sign an agreement meeting its requests and asked for further talks. China’s embassy in Nepal later said Beijing and Kathmandu remained in close contact and had made fact-based progress on cross-border disaster information sharing at the May meeting. Officials said Nepal had raised similar concerns the previous year, but experts and officials stressed that the slow pace of discussions was not the main cause of the latest disaster.

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What we actually wanted from them and still hope for today is that if there is early movement of a glacier and movement around the area, we want to know about it earlier.