Tsunami from the sky”: How the disaster in Nepal was caused, as the wave rose up to 200 meters

The tragedy that struck the Himalayan region in Nepal and China has been described as a “tsunami from the sky,” while the death toll continues to rise and has reached into the hundreds.

According to experts’ preliminary reconstruction, the event began when a giant section of glacier broke away from the northern face of Mount Tsangbu Ri. It was an ice mass around 600 meters wide that fell from an altitude of approximately 5,200 meters above sea level, sweeping everything away as it descended toward the valley.

When it crashed into the valley floor, the ice block turned into a powerful flow of frozen water moving at tremendous speed. The mass also incorporated debris and rocks from the mountain slopes, carrying them onward toward the Lende Khola River, the Daily Mail reports.

Videos captured at the Rasuëagadhit border crossing show the moment when a giant mass of water, mud and other materials slammed into the area. Moments before the disaster, security cameras recorded dozens of people running to escape, but just seconds later the site was engulfed and disappeared beneath the wave.

Geologist Bishal Nath Upreti said the wave may have reached a height of up to 200 meters, “completely wiping out” several communities. He described the amount of water released as incredible.

Daniel Shugar, an expert at the University of Calgary in Canada, told New Scientist magazine that melting snow and ice may have introduced “a large amount of liquid water into the glacier,” which penetrated all the way to its base. According to him, this was enough to trigger the collapse of part of the glacier.