Nepal’s young prime minister faces a defining test after glacial disaster

Balendra Shah rose to power as Nepal’s fresh political face. Now, six months after winning office, the rapper-turned-prime minister faces his first major national crisis, with a glacial collapse leaving more than 1,000 people dead and nearly 4,500 missing.

The August 26 disaster unleashed a huge wave of freezing water and debris. Kathmandu has warned that reconstruction could cost “billions of dollars,” a burden for a Himalayan country with limited resources. The catastrophe has also exposed the vulnerability of Nepal’s mountain environment as the world grows warmer.

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stand together

Shah, a 36-year-old former Kathmandu mayor known as “Balen,” won March elections amid widespread enthusiasm and promises to break with the political establishment. Since then, he has often kept out of the public eye, appearing in a sharp black suit and sunglasses while communicating largely through social media.

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The government may be inexperienced, but it has done its best.

Hours after the floods, Shah urged Nepal to “stand together” and visited disaster zones. But one week after the country’s deadliest disaster since the 2015 earthquake, he had still not addressed the nation publicly. The timing has added political pressure: the disaster came shortly before the anniversary of youth-led anti-corruption protests that toppled the previous government last September.

Some people say the government has done what it could under extraordinary conditions. Prakash Aryal, who was searching Kathmandu morgues for his sister and her family, said, “The government may be inexperienced, but it has done its best.” Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal acknowledged that some areas needed improvement, while saying the government was listening and would continue working through the challenges.

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Definitely, with this scale of disaster, often times there will be areas where we still need to improve.

Expectations for Shah had been exceptionally high, especially among young voters. Analysts say his government can claim faster public services and an anti-corruption drive, but voters still await jobs, higher incomes and broader economic opportunities. The floods have become a test of whether the goodwill that carried him into office can survive a genuine crisis.

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The floods are now his first major test of whether that goodwill can survive a genuine crisis.