Nepal landslide death toll could reach thousands, expert says

At least 160 people have died and hundreds are missing after a landslide and flooding disaster in Nepal, while the final death toll could reach several thousand, according to Mats Eriksson of the Swedish Geotechnical Institute, as reported by SVT.

Eriksson said the destruction was extensive, with large amounts of infrastructure destroyed and many lives lost.

The cause of the disaster has not yet been established. An international research team has suggested that part of a glacier may have broken apart, CNN reported.

According to Eriksson, an ice fall may have become an ice avalanche, carrying rock and soil downhill. The mass then melted into a fast-moving mixture of water, earth and stone that swept away forests, homes and bridges. He described the flow as an extremely violent and rapid mudflow.

Eriksson, who has travelled in the region and worked on glacier monitoring, said climate change was one factor behind the landslide.

Glaciers are retreating as global temperatures rise, he said, making them unstable and causing them to lose ice and mass. More glacial lakes are also forming in the mountains, held back by unstable walls. When those walls collapse, powerful waves can rush down valleys.

Eriksson said disaster death tolls are often low at first and rise as the full scale of the damage becomes clear. He estimated that more than 1,000 people could die, possibly several thousand.

In a video, he outlines three measures that could reduce the risk of sudden floods and limit their consequences.