At exactly 9AM on 16 August, a 4.5M earthquake hit Xizang on the Tibetan Plateau. Four hours later, 65km away in Nepal, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">a glacial lake burst</a> unleashing a cascade of destruction downstream. It is not certain if that tremor so nearby caused the lake to burst — either because an avalanche on the south ridge of Mt Tengi Ragi Tau fell into it, or heavy monsoon rain led to the collapse of a moraine. Either way, the snowmelt emptied into another lake below and unleashed a debris flow that roared down the valley to the village of Thame. Fortunately, children at a school had gone home early that Friday and inhabitants had time to climb to safety when they heard the approaching roar. There were no fatalities. Thame was not as lucky on 4 August 1985, when a bigger lake in an adjacent valley, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting">Dig Tso, burst after an avalanche fell on it</a>. Twelve people were swept away by the ensuing flood, a newly built hydropower plant was destroyed, and a section of the Everest trekking trail was washed away.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climactic-change">Glaciologist Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa</a> remembers his mother telling him that their home in Namche Bazaar was spared because it was on higher ground. “But she told us that with trails destroyed, food and supplies couldn’t reach us. At one point, her family had to survive on rotten potatoes,” recalls Sherpa, who works at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and uses remote sensing to map climate-induced hazards in the Himalaya. &nbsp; He says the Thame flood this week was a reminder of the inherent risk of living in the mountains which are magnified by climate breakdown. And the region is still very much at risk.&nbsp; “To the south, we have Lumding Tso, a potentially dangerous glacial lake that also empties into the Dudh Kosi, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis">to the west in Rolwaling is Tso Rolpa</a>, a lake that is now 3km long. And to the north is Dig Tsho, which burst in 1985,” says Sherpa.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240823050844_34eedc4fb5b287a3b861a2b2196758c635d011ec5666bac2031a8c6f0bde801b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240823050844_34eedc4fb5b287a3b861a2b2196758c635d011ec5666bac2031a8c6f0bde801b" data-rendition-name="original" width="623" height="695" loading="lazy" alt="Thame flood map"> </figure>  "We are facing one of the worst disasters since the Dig Tso flood. This is a wake-up call, not just for us in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu">Khumbu</a>, but for the entire Himalaya to rethink our ways, find alternatives to reduce the risks, and explore measures to protect ourselves," he adds. The Thame flood was a smaller disaster compared to the flood that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-smarter-himalayan-infrastructure">destroyed the Melamchi headworks in 2021</a>, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/sikkim-flood-is-warning-to-nepal">massive Sikkim flood last year</a>, or the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-is-lost-cannot-be-repaid">debris flow that ravaged Kagbeni</a>. All were caused by glacial lake bursts or moraine collapses due to extreme rainfall. Anil Pokhrel of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) flew to Thame on Saturday morning to inspect the glaciers above the village. He confirmed that two of five small glacial lakes below Tashi Lapcha pass had caused the flood. Satellite data shows that till two years ago, there were only four lakes.&nbsp; Across the Himalaya, there are now thousands of new glacial lakes that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Lake,1404">do not even have names</a>. In Nepal most of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/danger-nepal-s-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up">21 most dangerous ones</a> are located in the centre and east of the country, but there are dozens of enlarged lakes in China which drain into tributaries of rivers that flow into Nepal like the two Bhote Kosis, Arun and Tama Kosi.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240823050844_4e2cc8d68aea97f2b8262553ada6d911acf0ff1883b5454b151e85effde1745e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240823050844_4e2cc8d68aea97f2b8262553ada6d911acf0ff1883b5454b151e85effde1745e" data-rendition-name="original" width="920" height="496" loading="lazy" alt="at risk GLOFs in Nepal map"> </figure>  Some of these lakes are infamous because of their volume, the rate at which they are expanding, and the potential danger they pose to populations downstream — like Tso Rolpa, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/walking-the-talk-on-climate">Imja Tso</a> and Thulagi. But the Thame flood, and others like the Nare Lake outburst below <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/what-is-it-about-ama-dablam">Ama Dablam</a> in 1977 show that even smaller lakes can cause massive damage. In fact, it does not even take a lake burst to cause destructive debris flows. The Melamchi and Kagbeni floods appear to have been caused by moraines that collapsed in unusually heavy rain because they were no longer cemented by permafrost.&nbsp; Even a relatively small flood like the one in Thame can be damaging far downstream. The debris flow moved swiftly downstream, destroying a Rs80 million bridge on the Dudh Kosi in Okhaldhunga. Most villages downstream had been evacuated, so there were no casualties. If the flood had been bigger, it would have threatened <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/missing-pieces-of-the-hydropower-jigsaw">major hydropower projects</a> on the Dudh Kosi. “We cannot ignore smaller lakes anymore,” warns Pokhrel of NDRRMA. “We often think and plan from a hazard perspective, how big a disaster can be. But we must also look at risk, possible cascade damage on downstream communities.”&nbsp; Thame is at 3,840m elevation, but Pokhrel says he was surprised by how warm it was up there this week. “It felt like Kathmandu,” he says. “And satellite imagery shows accelerated melting of the upstream in the past month which could have led to the cascading collapse of the two lakes.”&nbsp; Glacial lake outbursts and debris flows are going to be more destructive and frequent in Nepal in the coming years, making them a fact of life. Seismic risk in the Himalaya adds to the dangers posed by the climate emergency. Local communities and governments have no option but to adapt by installing early warning systems, planning <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-s-cooking-in-nepal-besides-politics">smaller decentralised hydropower schemes</a>, moving settlements and infrastructure higher, and conducting detailed hazard mapping. “Thame showed us we cannot only rely on satellite mapping, and why in-situ observation is so important in a country with such a diverse topography and climate as ours,” says Sherpa. “There are more than 50,000 glaciers in the Himalayan region and we haven’t even studied 1% of them.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024082108084_aa61ab79fcc840b34f0392965affa0dbe6ad7c86f99c8b0205b0ce49c9584c64.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2024082108084_aa61ab79fcc840b34f0392965affa0dbe6ad7c86f99c8b0205b0ce49c9584c64" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="thame flood"> <figcaption>Thame flood this week. Photos: RSS</figcaption> </figure>  Despite the scarcity of field data, there have been considerable advances in remote sensing technologies that have helped fill this gap in data and help understand the changing cryosphere. ICIMOD’s recent report shows that glacier mass loss has increased by 65% in recent decades. The report also warns that the risk of flooding could increase much more in the coming century. Because so many of Nepal’s rivers are transboundary, a bilateral early warning mechanism with China is also urgent. Because of the scale of the danger, Nepal needs resources from the international community for adaptation, as well as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/lost-and-damaged">loss and damage reparation</a> to cope with future risk. “Our government needs to get in touch with the Chinese government to conduct a study of glacier lakes located near Tibet, which are the source of glaciers in Nepal. We should collaborate on early warning system and implementing risk reduction measures,” says Anil Pokhrel.&nbsp; Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa co-founded a global advocacy campaign called <a href="https://saveoursnow.earth/">#SaveOurSnow</a> last year to provide local communities with agency to deal with climate induced risk. Supporters of the campaign include former new Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, celebrity mountaineers like Reinhold Messner, Chris Bonington, Kenton Cool and the descendants of Tenzing Norgay. Says Sherpa: “As glaciers melt and lakes expand, disasters like Thame will be more frequent, we have to adapt. We need to tell our stories to the world, even as they continue to debate on the topic, we are already facing the brunt of it without having caused it ourselves. At local levels, we have to get back on our feet and prepare for what's coming.”&nbsp;

Sonia Awale

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Lives on the line in the Himalaya

A flash debris flow just after noon on 16 August had damaged half the village of Thame in the Everest region, but no human casualties have been reported.&nbsp; Experts and residents have said <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">rapid melting of the Himalaya</a> due to climate breakdown was the cause of this and more frequent flash floods on Nepal glacier-fed rivers in the past years. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting">Nepal’s mountains are melting</a>, Alton C Byers  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817040812_b5c90a2ec0cdf7aede204f3912c646f2a30b8fbb668548f8f6ba832c47e6a608.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240817040812_b5c90a2ec0cdf7aede204f3912c646f2a30b8fbb668548f8f6ba832c47e6a608" data-rendition-name="original" width="1050" height="535" loading="lazy" alt="Thame flash flood NT 2"> <figcaption>Friday afternoon after the flood hit Thame.</figcaption> </figure>  Early reports said five lodges, a school, a health clinic and 12 homes were damaged in Thame, which usually has a population of 300 Sherpa people who depend mostly on trekking and mountaineering for their livelihood. One person who was trapped in one of the buildings is said to be missing.&nbsp; Thame was hit by an even more devastating <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Dig-Tsho-4-400-m-as1-the-pear-shaped-glacial-lake-lies-embedded-in-the-uppermost_fig12_271811212" target="_blank">glacial lake outburst flood on 4 August 1985</a> when the Dig Tso lake burst after an avalanche from the east face of the 6,940m high Tengi Rau fell into the lake. Twelve people were killed then, a hydropower plant was destroyed and part of the Everest trekking trail was washed away. Thame also suffered extensive damage in the 2015 earthquake.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817030856_ab024c339325d46527245315cdf1682da699499c8b2532388f4d8d93e76d0c72.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240817030856_ab024c339325d46527245315cdf1682da699499c8b2532388f4d8d93e76d0c72" data-rendition-name="original" width="1182" height="774" loading="lazy" alt="4 August 1985 Dig Tso lake glacial lake outburst flood NT"> <figcaption>The glacial lake outburst flood in 1985. </figcaption> </figure>  Dig Tso has again filled up in the past decades due to glacial melt and could have burst again, experts say. There was heavy rain in the catchment area of the Bhote Kosi this week, and this could have also swept down melted glacial moraine from further up the mountain.&nbsp; “Unfortunately, those of us who have done the least to contribute to this man-made climate change are the ones facing the worst consequences,” said Dawa Steven Sherpa, mountaineer and tourism entrepreneur. “When will we learn that for many of us, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-climate-crisis-is-a-water-crisis-in-the-himalaya">the threats of climate change</a> are not in some distant future but are already happening?” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/living-with-climate-anxiety">Living with climate anxiety</a>, Rastraraj Bhandari <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FkYJ95MCRpWY%3Fsi%3DEuyCEbZPK8Eew368&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> Thame is on the former trade route between Nepal’s Khumbu region and Tibet across the 5,806m high Nangpa La pass. After The Chinese annexation of Tibet, the trade route was closed and the Sherpa people turned from being traders to mountaineering guides. There are several other smaller glacial lakes upstream from Thame, and a team from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) flew to the valley on Saturday morning to find the actual cause. “We weren’t aware that the lakes were at the risk of bursting but we suspect it might have been Dig Tso again, or one of them,” Ward chair Pasang Galzen Sherpa. Dig is a highland yak pasture below the lakes, and it is not known if any livestock of herders were affected.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817040812_08b1a13e9e5cff070775f7b91aa46e1c57298a26e56f7ddf8e75586020fff596.png" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240817040812_08b1a13e9e5cff070775f7b91aa46e1c57298a26e56f7ddf8e75586020fff596" data-rendition-name="original" width="1070" height="1610" loading="lazy" alt="Glacial outburst Thame flash flood NT 3"> </figure>  The sudden flood in Thame Khola at about 1:30PM on Friday gave locals just enough time to flee to safer higher ground. The trekking off-season meant this Sherpa village of 45 families at about 3,800m in Khumbu Valley was relatively empty. Thame is also the staging point for the Renzo La traverse from Thame to Gokyo Valley. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/tracing-past-glacial-floods-in-kangchenjunga">Tracing past glacial floods in Kangchenjunga</a>, Alton C Byers  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240817040816_72a0727d11706de3e845caf759a3356f47c5751f72535d4d2bd7ecc3baa31a42.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240817040816_72a0727d11706de3e845caf759a3356f47c5751f72535d4d2bd7ecc3baa31a42" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="926" loading="lazy" alt="Thame flash flood NT 4"> </figure>  The District Administration Office of Khotang issued an alert about a flash flood downstream on the Dudh Kosi into which the Bhote Kosi flows. The District Police Office, Halesi Tuwachung Municipality, Aiselukharka Rural Municipality and Rawabensi Rural Municipality have asked people to move to higher ground, but no casualties or major damage was reported overnight. Nepal Police in Thambuche and Namche and a team from the Nepal Army have been deployed in the flood-damaged areas. Helicopter flights were prevented from reaching the site on Friday due to bad weather.

Climate breakdown linked to Thame flood

The devastating flood on Wednesday morning in the Indian state of Sikkim is another shocking proof of what can happen if rampant, unplanned and poorly engineered infrastructure are built along Himalayan rivers at risk from climate breakdown and weather extremes. Heavy rains caused a cloudburst at the tri-junction of India Nepal and China in the Kangchenjunga region this week. The South Lhonak proglacial lake burst, unleashing a debris flow that destroyed the Chungthang Dam and causing a deadly flash flood on the Teesta River in Sikkim, West Bengal and as far downstream as Bangladesh. Till press time, at least a dozen people are confirmed dead, with scores missing. Other hydropower projects in Sikkim were also damaged, while many bridges and highways were washed away. Indian satellite imagery confirmed that the flood was triggered by a sudden outflow from South Lhonak, which then led to the collapse of the Chungthang Dam, draining its reservoir, and unleashing the combined debris flow.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023100417100_be35e3f15eed641f71b7901e7d61b671037b7f84c0046bbe55cf9698e99c5e23.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2023100417100_be35e3f15eed641f71b7901e7d61b671037b7f84c0046bbe55cf9698e99c5e23" data-rendition-name="original" width="2266" height="1664" loading="lazy" alt="sikkim flood 4"> <figcaption>Location of the South Lhonak glacial lake near the ti-junction of the borders of Nepal-India-China, and the Chungthang Reservoir in India's Sikkim state.</figcaption> </figure>  The 4 October flood on the Teesta proves that there could be much more destructive glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) in store in future as global warming melts the Himalayan icecap. These mountains are warming 0.7 Celsius faster than the global average, making glaciers recede and shrink, leaving large moraine-dammed lakes.&nbsp; Hundreds of new proglacial lakes have emerged in the past decades, mostly in eastern Nepal, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/more-himalayan-tsunamis" target="_blank">India</a>, Bhutan and southern Tibet. Glaciologists are tracking at least 40 of them which they say are fragile, either because of water accumulation, from seismic activity, or because of avalanches causing the lakes to overtop their moraine dams. There are so many new lakes that many do not even have names, but numbers.&nbsp; In an uncannily accurate forecast of Wednesday’s disaster, Indian glaciologist Ashim Sattar had co-authored a paper in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/" target="_blank">ScienceDirect</a> in 2021 titled <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X21001914" target="_blank">Future Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) Hazard of the South Lhonak Lake, Sikkim Himalaya</a>, warning of the danger of avalanches falling into the lake causing it to burst. The team measured the lake volume at 115 million cubic metres. Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/for-destruction-ice-is-also-great-and-will-suffice">For destruction, ice is also great and will suffice</a>, Sonia Awale  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231004161056_1a13cedaca6a951a56e4ef19737a7fbed6d993132ee810442c47e9f28791885e.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20231004161056_1a13cedaca6a951a56e4ef19737a7fbed6d993132ee810442c47e9f28791885e" data-rendition-name="original" width="2924" height="1638" loading="lazy" alt="sikkim flood 2"> <figcaption>The Chungthang Dam and its reservoir before Wednesday's  disaster.</figcaption> </figure>  ‘This enormous volume of water in a highly dynamic high-mountain environment makes this lake a priority for GLOF risk management,’ the paper warned. ‘Our results show that the GLOF susceptibility will increase due to the expansion of the lake towards steep slopes, which are considered potential starting zones of avalanches.’&nbsp; Wednesday’s GLOF event washed away the 1,200MW Chungthang Teesta III Project which had a 60m concrete and rockfill dam, tunnel and underground powerhouse built at a cost of $1.7 billion. Sikkim has invested heavily on hydropower projects, with more than 35 cascade schemes on the Teesta and its tributaries that drain Mt Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain. There are no reports of damage to infrastructure on the Nepal side of the Kangchenjunga catchment, where there are numerous hydropower plants in operation and under construction on the Tamor, Arun, Kabeli and other rivers. An early monsoon cloudburst in Taplejung in June killed at least 40 people, and damaged several of those hydropower projects. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231004161056_39dd2836f0245ebee3be82facf6a538f8dad8dc413ce15b7f8553bc797b4e307.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20231004161056_39dd2836f0245ebee3be82facf6a538f8dad8dc413ce15b7f8553bc797b4e307" data-rendition-name="original" width="2704" height="1522" loading="lazy" alt="sikkim flood 3"> <figcaption>The South Lhonak glacial lake had 115 million cubic metres of water, and glaciologists had warned it could burst.</figcaption> </figure>  A <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-smarter-himalayan-infrastructure" target="_blank">flood in July 2021</a> in Nepal similar to this week’s Sikkim disaster damaged a $800 million project to supply water from the glacier-fed Melamchi River through a 26.5km tunnel to Kathmandu. Although the tunnel was saved, the headworks were destroyed, and the project is still not back in full operation. In 2015, a glacial lake burst in Tibet and brought down debris flow that damaged the 44MW Bhote Kosi project in Sindhupalchok district that had just been repaired after the Jure landslide and the 2015 earthquake. In 2022, heavy rains damaged a dozen under construction hydropower projects in central Nepal, causing huge losses.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023100417100_ec7eddfb3319ac8e328d695bcf6f3ec6ac674f6cd8fb9cc0a6d93ee83b194fc6.png" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2023100417100_ec7eddfb3319ac8e328d695bcf6f3ec6ac674f6cd8fb9cc0a6d93ee83b194fc6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2154" height="1004" loading="lazy" alt="sikkim flood 5"> <figcaption>Dangerous glacial lakes in Nepal, but there are other lakes in Tibet that are also at risk of bursting.</figcaption> </figure>  Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/danger-nepal-s-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up">DANGER: Nepal’s glacial lakes are filling up</a> There are glacial lakes in central and eastern Nepal like Thulagi in Himalchuli, Tso Rolpa in Rolwaling and Imja in the Khumbu that would be just as dangerous as South Lhonak because of hydropower, highways and settlements downstream. In addition, dozens of glacial lakes on the Chinese side in Tibet also drain into tributaries of Nepal’s transboundary rivers and pose great risk.&nbsp; The water levels of Tso Rolpa and Imja have been lowered by building weirs on the moraine, but such construction is expensive and there are just too many lakes. A new lake that has emerged on Langtang Glacier is being drained to lower its level as well as generate hydropower, the first in Nepal.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231004161056_06c540103d49183011e7925639f8a3285f2a3823950aa12a350de7ba009de9a3.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20231004161056_06c540103d49183011e7925639f8a3285f2a3823950aa12a350de7ba009de9a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="2392" height="1474" loading="lazy" alt="sikkim flood"> <figcaption>Another view from the social media post of the breached Chungthang Dam.</figcaption> </figure>  As Nepal embarks on generating up to 30,000MW by 2035, the warning from Sikkim is clear: spread the risk and plan for the worst.

Sikkim’s warning to Nepal

Just as the global tourism industry begins to revive after the pandemic, climate anxiety is affecting the travel business.&nbsp; In industrialised countries, awareness is spreading about consumption and the carbon footprint of long-distance air travel. The more ecologically conscious travellers are taking trains where available, and buying carbon offsets. Seasonal weather patterns in Nepal are complex to begin with, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/disasters-in-nepal-come-in-waves">climate change</a> has made them even more unpredictable and variable. This is something that trekkers to Nepal should now consider, and be flexible enough for change of itinerary or duration. Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/for-destruction-ice-is-also-great-and-will-suffice">For destruction, ice is also great and will suffice</a>, Sonia Awale &nbsp;Weather forecasts are getting more accurate, and it is now possible to plot the trajectory of late monsoon troughs, or cyclones in the Bay of Bengal so there is enough warning. Nepal is influenced primarily by the South Asian monsoon but the country has a rainfall gradient with a much wetter east and drier conditions as one heads westwards. Climate data analysis reveals that the Himalayan range is undergoing rapid change, with temperature increasing at a rate that is double that of the global average. In recent years, there has been an unpredictable rise in the frequency of extreme weather events.&nbsp; Higher temperature means the air carries more moisture, and as it rises along the mountains there can be violent convection storms. Higher temperatures also means an elevated risk of snow avalanches, and increased instances of rock falls as the ice in crevices on slopes melt. Read Also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-abcs-of-a-winter-trek-in-nepal"> The ABCs of a winter trek in Nepal</a>, Monika Deupala With more precise storm forecasts, tragedies like the blizzard that hit Central Nepal in 2014 that killed at least 43 below Annapurna and Dhaulagiri can be prevented. Similar freak storms have occurred in the Khumbu and even in the usually arid trans-Himalayan regions like Mustang and Manang.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023092305090_9eaf7973ebb9e6e8a08b76c2f943fa565606d28182ff6c6a7e192ee8c174724d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023092305090_9eaf7973ebb9e6e8a08b76c2f943fa565606d28182ff6c6a7e192ee8c174724d" data-rendition-name="original" width="4624" height="2136" loading="lazy" alt="ABC trek 2"> </figure>  The risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) is higher in eastern Nepal, but the Annapurna region also has some dangerous <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/danger-nepal-s-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up">glacial lakes </a>like Thulagi below Himalchuli, and others. But even without lakes, supraglacial ponds can cause sudden floods downstream like the one that hit Kagbeni this year. &nbsp;There are sections of the ABC trek, for example where avalanches off Annapurna South can funnel right down to the river. Evidence of these are ice fan deposits even at lower elevations.&nbsp; During a trek in May this year, we witnessed numerous such powder snow avalanches above Deurali. And unusually heavy downpours and hailstorms lashed us in the Chomrong and Sinuwa sections.&nbsp; Such extreme weather events not only pose risks to trekkers but also endanger local communities, including mountain porters. It is important for trekking groups to now be alert about weather warnings, and also take precautions like crossing avalanche fans before or after the most risky times between 9AM and 12 noon because rising temperature triggers melting of overnight snow. Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-glacial-lakes-in-danger-of-bursting">Nepal's glacial lakes in danger of bursting</a>, Mukesh Pokhrel Undoubtedly, embarking on the ABC trek is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and with careful planning and adequate preparation against the growing incidence of extreme weather events in the region, it can be a relatively easy trek.&nbsp; A Himalayan trek is an opportunity to contribute to Nepal’s rural economy, and slow down the pace of life.&nbsp; The ABC of Treks Nepal’s tourism is seeing a vigorous rebound of trekking this autumn season, and total arrival figures for 2023 look like they will only be slightly lower than the pre-covid 1.2 million high in 2019. Trekkers and climbers have already arrived for the autumn season and have headed out to the high Himalaya.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230923040956_7adf7b2efb8e98245bd69a44d5a9c126751456d9c2a151f9fa6db82b542fc2b1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230923040956_7adf7b2efb8e98245bd69a44d5a9c126751456d9c2a151f9fa6db82b542fc2b1" data-rendition-name="original" width="386" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="ABC trail"> <figcaption>Map: NT Graphics</figcaption> </figure>  Nearly 30% of all visitors go on treks, and most of them land up in the Everest and Annapurna trails, although the Manaslu circuit and Langtang are also gaining popularity. Trekkers on longer duration trips go to Mustang or Dolpo. Of these, the Annapurna Base Camp Trek and the Annapurna Circuit are the most popular because of the awe-inspiring views. The Base Camp trail follows the Mardi Khola and into the sanctuary which is ringed by rock and ice ramparts of Annapurna South, Annapurna 1, Annapurna 3 and Machapuchre.&nbsp; &nbsp;The Round Annapurna trail is now mostly motorised, but this cuts short the approach time which can be devoted to exploring side valleys in Manang and Mustang. The entire massif and its foothills lie within the Annapurna Conservation Area, spanning 7,629 sq km, which is a conservation model designed in Nepal for ecological preservation to be funded by eco-tourism.&nbsp; &nbsp;Annapurna 1 at 8,091m is the tenth highest mountain in the world and was the first eight-thousander to be climbed, and the story of 1950 French expedition by Maurice Herzog propelled Nepal into the world stage even before the Everest ascent three years later.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023092305098_48de92cc0c1dac270e73c3b4dac793a5a494230778f7737da5a50b26b5627200.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2023092305098_48de92cc0c1dac270e73c3b4dac793a5a494230778f7737da5a50b26b5627200" data-rendition-name="original" width="3264" height="1504" loading="lazy" alt="ABC trek 4"> </figure>  Annapurna 1 has long held the highest fatality-to-summit rate among the eight-thousander because of its technical difficulty and avalanche risk. As of 2022, 365 people had reached the summit of Annapurna I, while 72 have lost their lives attempting it. &nbsp;However, in recent years, climbing success rates have improved with reduced fatalities. Nevertheless, the mountain still presents serious objective dangers due to avalanches and rockfalls which have reportedly become more frequent due to climate-induced weather extremes. &nbsp;The south face of Annapurna 1 soars 3,000m above the base of the mountains and is considered one of the most difficult climbs in the world.&nbsp; &nbsp;Not everyone is there to climb Annapurna, and a trek to its base is an adventure in itself. The ABC (Annapurna Base Camp) Trail alone gets 55,000 visitors a year, and offers an enchanting excursion into a wilderness area with cloud forests teeming with wildlife. The ABC Trek is of moderate difficulty and does not require advanced physical fitness, making it accessible to everyone, including families with children. &nbsp;The trek offers a glimpse into Nepal’s immense biodiversity as well as ethnic groupings. A bonus is a natural hot spring near Jhinu Danda nestled amidst forested flanks. Locals believe the waters possess healing properties, and offer a refreshing respite to trekkers.&nbsp; Trekking to Annapurna Base Camp via Ghorepani aids in acclimatisation to high altitudes, allowing the body to adapt gradually. This preparation enables hikers to better cope with the physical demands of walking at up to 4,000m and above. &nbsp;Achyut Tiwari, PhD, is a Plant Ecologist and Assistant Professor at the Central Department of Botany at Tribhuvan University. &nbsp;

Trekking in the time of climate change

<figure><img width="3071" height="2284" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d195f9c7e80680e0ac817jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Chanaute after the flood on the Melamchi River in 2021. All photos: RAJU PANDIT CHHETRI</figcaption></figure>On 15 June, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/">Melamchi River north of Kathmandu</a> saw a massive flash flood, killing 25 people and sweeping away 200 houses and 360 hectares of farmlands.Another debris flow on the river on 31 July added to the destruction and misery. The disaster was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-monsoon-mess-in-melamchi/">unprecedented in the Melamchi Valley</a>, and caught residents, trout farms, shops along the banks by surprise. Before the communities got a chance to fully rise from the massive double-earthquake in 2015, the region was hit yet again with another disaster.As a resident of the Chanaute, I lost close relatives and neighbours to the flood. My own house and farmland were destroyed. The river sliced through the bazar town, and its 56 houses are now ruined and abandoned. The hopes of my hard-working community have also been dashed.Local entrepreneurs, small shop owners and farmers whose arable land have turned into a boulder-strewn wasteland are shattered. Damage to roads and bridges hascut the valley’s connection to the outside world. Nepal’s most expensive water supply project has been damaged. <figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d19639c7e80680e0ac818jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Any individual extreme weather event is difficult to directly attribute to the climate crisis. But the intensity and unpredictability of this year’s monsoon has been unprecedented. Manang and Mustang were hit by flash floods at the same time as Melamchi – even before the monsoon officially started. And even after the rainy season was formally over last week, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-monsoon-rain-ruins-nepals-crops/">parts of the country were hit by record-breaking rainfall.</a>For the past decade, my career has taken me to numerous international climate summits where we have discussed strong national and international advocacy to address the impact of the climate crisis – especially on developing countries like Nepal.At international climate negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), I have observed climate-vulnerable countries make urgent pleas for ambitious action in tackling the climate crisis. Small, low-lying island states like the Vanuatu, Tuvalu and the Maldives have tried to show the urgency of it all – rising ocean levels will soon submerge their countries.The Philippines and Bangladesh continue to raise concern about the increasing intensity and frequency of typhoons and cyclones. Fragile mountain regions of the world are trying to get their concerns on the agenda.Next week, heads of state from around the world will start arriving in Glasgow for the 26th annual climate summit of the UNFCCC (called COP26). Recent impacts of extreme weather events around the world (wildfires in Siberia and the western US, heat waves in Canada, floods in Europe, landslides and floods in Japan, India, China) are likely to focus everyone’s mind on the climate emergency, and the message that we are all in this together. <figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d19669c7e80680e0ac819jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate impacts to avert and minimise some of the loss and damage will be at the forefront of the negotiations.  However, as the incoming president of COP26, the United Kingdom and the leaders of the industrialised world will have to face a new reality – to address the destruction unleashed by the climate crisis with rehabilitation, migration and financing.Industrialised countries have long brushed aside these issues, diluted their commitments to merely focusing on the weaker goal of reducing greenhouse gas emission, and providing token climate financing to allow low-income countries to adapt.In fact, addressing the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/disasters-in-nepal-come-in-waves/">loss and damage from disasters</a> like the one that hit Melamchi and parts of the Himalaya will be one of the main pillars of the COP26 in Glasgow. Nepal’s delegation will be led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and he is expected to speak about this year’s climate-induced disasters starting with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/wildfires-ravage-nepal-mountains/">winter drought</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke/">nationwide wildfires</a>, and floods.Nepal will have strong moral grounds to persuade world leaders that low capacity vulnerable countries need help to deal with a crisis that is not of our making. Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and receding fast, extreme weather trends are more pronounced, and this is impacting on infrastructure projects and threaten to undermine decades of progress in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. <figure><img width="4000" height="3000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d19699c7e80680e0ac81ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-glacial-lakes-in-danger-of-bursting/">A 2020 study by ICIMOD and UNDP</a> has shown that 47 glacial lakes in the Kosi, Gandaki and Karnali basins are in danger of bursting. Although 21 of these lakes are in Nepal, the others also drain into tributaries of rivers flowing into Nepal. These are ticking time bombs.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/">Glacial lake outburst floods</a> have been hitting Nepal’s Himalayan valleys with increasing frequency. In 2012, an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Anatom-of-a-Himalayan-tsunami,1330">avalanche on Annapurna</a> unleashed a catastrophic flood on the Seti River that killed at least 70 people. In <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2014/10/16/after-the-storm/">2014, a deadly post-monsoon blizzard</a> spawned by Cyclone Hudhud swept through the mountains catching many trekkers unawares. The Tarai have seen increasingly destructive floods in the past five years, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/disastrous-management-in-nepal/">Bara district was hit by a rare tornado in 2019</a> that killed dozens.In Glasgow, Nepal will have to make a compelling case for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/himalayan-floods-a-sign-of-worse-to-come/">loss and damage compensation</a> for disasters like these. COP26 will be a make-or-break summit for reducing global carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. Nepal will also need to do its bit to achieve its updated Nationally Determined Contribution target to reduce emissions by 2030 by switching to renewable energy, and attain net zero by 2050.Glasgow will be an opportunity to link global targets to local impact, and to find ways to address the disproportionate destruction caused by climate crisis on the poorer parts of the poorest countries.Raju Pandit Chhetri is a resident of Chanaute in Nepal’s Melamchi Valley and works on climate change issues.

Think globally in Glasgow, and act locally

<figure><img width="2560" height="1967" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111152/636cd8519c7e80680e092e37jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The origin of the Nanda Devi massif rockslide and the debris flow on a CubeSat image at 10:30 IST, just before the flood reached the Tapovan Hydropower Project site 22km downstream. The dotted black line shows the sediment deposited on the adjacent slopes of the river valley, with the rockslide marked in red. Image: ICIMOD</figcaption></figure>More than a month after the catastrophic flashflood in Chamoli district of the Indian Himalaya, scientists say that the cause was failure of a rock face, and not just the result of a glacial lake burst caused by climate change.Early reports had suggested that the flood of water and debris that raced down the Rishiganga on 7 February, damaging four hydroelectric plants and killing more than 200 people, may have been caused by a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). <img width="640" height="463" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111152/636cd8549c7e80680e092e38jpeg.jpg" alt="">However, analysis of satellite images before and after the disaster show that there were no lakes on the Ronti Glacier in the Nanda Devi (7,816m) massif, and the disaster happened in winter when the supra-glacial ponds were frozen. <figure><img width="2048" height="1449" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111152/636cd8569c7e80680e092e39jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Scientists have concluded that a 500m wide section of the face of Ronti Peak broke off at 10:30am on 7 February at an elevation of 5,500m and fell with tremendous force on the glacier below. The kinetic energy of an estimated 22 million cubic metres of falling rock also melted ice deposits from a previous avalanche in 2016.Scientists say that the disaster was not directly caused by global warming, but <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-did-climate-change-contribute-to-indias-catastrophic-glacial-flood" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-did-climate-change-contribute-to-indias-catastrophic-glacial-flood&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463312000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFgdSlP7mXxpGofYUH2Q6dgxNd1xw">climate change could have contributed</a>. Uttarakhand state recorded its warmest January in six decades this year, and there had been winter storms the previous week that had deposited a lot of snow on the slopes. Ice also cements rock fissures at higher elevations, and when it melts the rocks can come loose.‘The Chamoli flood was not caused by a GLOF as there were no significant glacial lakes in the area,’ write a group of researchers led by Arun B Shrestha in a recent paper for the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD),  ‘… (but) the <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-did-climate-change-contribute-to-indias-catastrophic-glacial-flood" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-did-climate-change-contribute-to-indias-catastrophic-glacial-flood&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463312000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFgdSlP7mXxpGofYUH2Q6dgxNd1xw">increased thaw-freeze cycle of permafrost could have partially contributed to the event.’</a>Even so, researchers at the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/uttarakhand-underground-glacial-lake-led-to-flash-floods-says-iisc-analysis-101612842535639.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/uttarakhand-underground-glacial-lake-led-to-flash-floods-says-iisc-analysis-101612842535639.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463312000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHUxxKYGuO-LH5Lmhia8nvW3Oi2HA">Divecha Centre for Climate Change at Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru</a> used glacier thickness mapper data to detect a sub-surface lake containing 4.5 million cubic metres of water stored in a bedrock depression near the Nanda Devi Glacier terminus that could have caused the flood.  Scientists note that not all Himalayan hazards can be attributed to the climate crisis. An <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Anatom-of-a-Himalayan-tsunami,1330" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Anatom-of-a-Himalayan-tsunami,1330&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463313000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEsZOhcMFA8vxHbbwUxFh8HOESRwQ">identical rock slip on Annapurna IV</a> in Nepal on 5 May 2012 caused a flashflood on the Seti River that killed at least 72 people. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-courage-and-endurance-of-the-langtangpa/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-courage-and-endurance-of-the-langtangpa/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463313000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHonfzkoR0q5xry76GBTl4UyM05-w">deadly avalanche on Langtang</a> on 25 April 2015 killed nearly 200 people, and was triggered by an earthquake. Another flood that blocked the Arun River in eastern Nepal in July 2017 was traced to a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/more-himalayan-tsunamis/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/more-himalayan-tsunamis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463313000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFvsIDn5dmC06mGMdSJ_ogC8tBCYg">rock-fall that caused a glacial lake to top over.</a> <figure><img width="850" height="478" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111152/636cd8599c7e80680e092e3ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-glacial-lakes-in-danger-of-bursting/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-glacial-lakes-in-danger-of-bursting/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463313000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFTEiergMkJv8bcv86ZOG8uUmM3_Q">GLOFs</a> happen when ice and snow melted by the climate thaw accumulates in enlarging lakes, which can burst due to increased water pressure, or when avalanches fall into them.  And while there are frequent GLOFs, especially in the eastern Himalaya, scientists agree that it was not the main trigger of the Nanda Devi disaster last month.  The other disasters on Himalayan rivers are caused by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/more-himalayan-tsunamis/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/more-himalayan-tsunamis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463313000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFvsIDn5dmC06mGMdSJ_ogC8tBCYg">bishyari</a>, a local word that refers to a floods due to a landslide blocking a river to impound a lake that suddenly bursts, as what happened in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/One-month-after-the-mountain-fell,1637" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/One-month-after-the-mountain-fell,1637&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463313000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEpOyzNu1-11qUQhioHciDTUNZdGQ">Jure of Sindhupalchok on 2 August 2014.</a>Another catastrophic example is the co-seismic mountain slide that blocked the Seti River about 500 years ago, creating a huge lake that then burst depositing the 200m thick sediment layers on which the city of Pokhara is now located.   Nepal’s former water resource minister and hydropower expert Dipak Gyawali says that bishyari are known to happen in 10-15 year cycles in Nepal. The etymology of the word itself shows that human dwellers of the Himalaya have known of the phenomenon for thousands of years, he says.“Even if these floods are not directly caused by climate change, it can exacerbate the disaster because of extreme weather events,” Gyawali said in an interview.Himalayan floods therefore pre-date climate change, and are caused by the vulnerability of these young, fragile mountains to natural and human-induced processes like the indiscriminate use of heavy earth-moving vehicles on poorly-engineered roads.  Such ‘bulldozer terrorism’, has exacerbated the frequency of landslides in central Nepal  after the 2015 earthquake, according to a recently published paper in the journal, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590061721000193" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590061721000193&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463313000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFfGOeUwHuVmX29jd0yc9zjQ9LTRg">Progress in Disaster Science.</a> <figure><img width="499" height="397" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111152/636cd85d9c7e80680e092e3bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>After analysing remote sensing data, the researchers conclude that although the number of landslides had started falling after 2015, there has been an uptick since 2017 possibly due to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/dozers-and-nepals-development/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/dozers-and-nepals-development/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615627463313000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEh-pzzDl7j405T7swUxTKR34tVPg">proliferation of rural road construction</a> around the time of the elections. (See graph, above.) Gyawali suggests that a solution could be better-planned infrastructure and settlements that take into account known hazards. As the Chamoli flood showed, expensive hydroelectric projects located closer to the high mountains are more at risk. He suggests investing in smaller hydropower plants in side tributaries rather than the main stem of major Himalayan rivers to mitigate the danger, and to spread the risk. However, most of Nepal’s planned large hydropower projects are on rivers like the Tamor, Arun, Dudh Kosi, Bhote Kosi and Budi Gandaki. The Himalaya is a young and unstable mountain range that is battered by a heavy monsoon three months a year. Into this high-risk zone, there is now the added threat of climate-induced disasters. Says Gyawali: “We cannot completely remove these disasters from happening, but we can try to understand them and plan to minimise the risk.”

Non-climate cause of Nanda Devi flood

<figure><img width="1400" height="1050" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a35029c7e80680e048288jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>PHOTO: KIRAN NEPAL</figcaption></figure>The devastating storm that ravaged Bara and Parsa districts on Sunday night leaving at least 30 people dead and hundreds injured now looks certain to have been a tornado. Although not as common here as in the plains states of mid-western US, tornadoes have been known to occur during the pre-monsoon season in Bangladesh and parts of coastal India.Meteorologists were initially reluctant to confirm that this week’s disaster was caused by a tornado because they were almost unheard of in the Nepal Tarai. However, the fact that elderly people in the plains have in their Maithili and Hindi vocabulary a word for tornado (chakrawat) means that they do occur.The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has come under a lot of criticism this week for not being able to forecast this extreme weather event. While storms, rain, and high winds can be forecast, tornadoes are notoriously difficult to predict, and it is next to impossible to pinpoint where they will touch down.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/disastrous-management-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disastrous Management in Nepal</a>Even in the United States, which is hit by more than 1,000 tornadoes a year, there are only general warnings about possibilities of these twisters, although computer modeling allows more accurate forecasting. Still, the only specific warning people get is when they can actually see a tornado approaching with its ominous funnel. Homes and businesses along America’s ‘Tornado Alley’ in states like South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and parts of Texas and Colorado are mandatorily required to have shelters since wind speeds of up to 450 km/h inside a tornado can rip everything apart.As survivors picked up the pieces of their lives this week in Pheta village of Bara, scientists from the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) saw the clear footprint of a tornado: a long and narrow path of destruction, houses and walls built with masonry lay demolished, trucks and buses had been thrown about, mighty trees were uprooted – but a few metres away palm trees still stood with fronds intact and thatch homes were unscathed.Photographs taken by passengers on planes circling over Simara while waiting to land at Kathmandu airport show continuous lightning flashes inside a supercell soaring above Central Nepal with the tops of the cumulonimbus reaching more than 10,000m. Right below these planes, the conditions were getting ripe for the twister to form.Eyewitnesses describe a frightening storm that hit at dinner time, with the brunt of the damage confined to a 50m wide trail of destruction along a few kilometres towards Birganj. As our <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/disastrous-management-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coverage of the disaster in this edition </a>explains, the tornado would been difficult to predict even with the most sophisticated equipment. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/groound-zero-in-pheta/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ground Zero in Pheta</a>, Kiran NepalNowcasting is possible, but not for a specific locale or an exact time. The DHM has installed a Doppler radar in Surkhet, and two more are going to be set up in Palpa and Udaypur to cover the entire country. Data from these can be fed into modeling software that can detect rotating updrafts inside supercells, make predictions for rain and wind, and also gauge the possibility of twisters striking. However, even if these radars had been operational and modeling software already available, it would have been impossible to forecast a tornado hitting a localised cluster of villages in the central plains of Nepal at a specific time. And even if the warning had gone out, there would not be enough time to respond, and in the absence of underground shelters, there would still have been high casualties.For us in Nepal, therefore, there is only one thing to do: spread awareness and be prepared for more tornadoes in future as the intensity of storms increase with climate change. Extreme weather events like wind storms, flash floods, cloud bursts, glacial lake outburst floods, droughts and erratic monsoons are the new normal, and we have to improve forecasting and preparedness.Even before the 2015 earthquake, the government had been working on a Disaster Management Act. It was delayed by geological and political earthquakes, but a bill to that effect is finally going to Parliament soon. The National Reconstruction Authority should be expanded into a Disaster Management Authority that can upgrade multi-disaster preparedness, and have systems in place for rapid search and rescue, relief and rehabilitation.Bara was the first major disaster to hit Nepal since the federal constitution went into effect, and we could see that the first responders were from the Wards and Municpalities of Province 2 where the tornado struck. Central coordination local response would be the way forward in preparing for disasters to come. It is not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/past-disasters-foretold/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Past disasters foretold</a>, Om Astha Rai10 years  ago this weekWhy do these lines from an editorial in Nepali Times #445 of 3-9 April 2009 sound strangely familiar ten years later? We have the unenviable task of trying to wake up rulers pretending to be asleep.It is now only a question of time before dashed hopes turn into spontaneous outbursts of frustration. There were high expectations, even euphoria, when the Maoists came to power seven months ago that their revolutionary zeal would bring a new style and efficiency to the government.Most Nepalis expected that the constitution-drafting process would be messy and fraught with delays, but they were certain their lives would improve. Nobody expects miracles from Dahal and his fellow travellers. But they need to prove that they are doing more than just blaming everyone else, or at least once a week threaten to overthrow a government they themselves lead.

The new normal

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;

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