Nepal Glacier Collapse Flattened Gyirong Port in 7 Minutes, Sweeping Floods 22km
Updated
Updated · South China Morning Post · Sep 8
Nepal Glacier Collapse Flattened Gyirong Port in 7 Minutes, Sweeping Floods 22km
3 articles · Updated · South China Morning Post · Sep 8
Summary
Seven days after the August 26 disaster, searchers were still combing the ruins of Gyirong Port, where a glacier collapse in Nepal unleashed a mudflow that wiped out the China-Nepal crossing.
The floods traveled 22 km in seven minutes and flattened the entire port area, erasing buildings and leaving many border inspection staff and other workers missing or dead.
Gui Xinwei, deputy chief of the Gyirong Border Inspection Station, said he returned from holiday to find the 20-meter port building completely gone despite its survival through earlier floods and earthquakes.
At the shattered border hub, scattered personal belongings have become the clearest trace of the human toll as recovery teams continue searching for those swept away.
Hundreds vanished when an M5.2-equivalent mudflow wiped out Gyirong Port; could advanced early-warning systems have prevented this catastrophic loss of life?
How could a massive border port simply vanish in seven minutes, and what does it mean for the future of Himalayan trade?
With a vital trade lifeline erased by a glacier collapse, are multi-billion dollar Himalayan mega-projects like the Tibet-Kathmandu railway now doomed?