Himalayas getting unstable: India has a larger role beyond humanitarian assistance

From Nepal to India, Himalayan rivers and climate risks cross borders. Here's why the latest disaster raises a bigger question about regional preparedness.

In Short

• Nepal's August floods highlight rising Himalayan cross-border hazards.
• Climate change linked to glacier thinning and thawing permafrost.
• Stronger India-Nepal cooperation needed for early warning, disaster management

The devastating flash floods in Nepal in August were more than a national disaster. They were a warning of how rapidly hazards in the increasingly unstable Himalayas can cascade across borders, and why India’s role in the region may need to go beyond responding after disasters strike.

On August 26, a sudden flash flood swept through Nepal’s Rasuwa district, sending huge volumes of water and debris through the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems. Water levels on parts of the Trishuli reportedly rose by as much as nine metres within 30 minutes, while several monitoring stations were damaged or washed away.

Nepal faced the disaster that killed thousands and is now seeking a broader conversation around climate finance, loss and damage, preparedness and regional cooperation.

How Nepal responded to the disaster, however, marks an important change in how Himalayan countries are approaching climate disasters, Ajay Mathur, professor at IIT Delhi, argued in an opinion article in The Indian Express.

“New Delhi must evolve from a donor during crises into a co-underwriter of regional climate justice,” Mathur wrote, arguing that India could help build regional institutions capable of delivering climate-related assistance more quickly.

The disaster has since been linked to an ice-rock avalanche from the high mountains.

Scientists studying the event have also found evidence that a warming climate is altering the conditions that make such mountain failures more likely, including glacier thinning and permafrost thaw.

Considering the scale and reach of the expansive mountain system, it's apparent that Himalayan disasters are rarely confined to the country where they begin. That should worry India.

NEPAL'S DISASTER RAISES A CLIMATE QUESTION

For decades, India’s role during disasters in Nepal has largely been that of a first responder, providing relief and assistance.

Mathur also proposed mechanisms such as regional climate-risk insurance and greater sharing of data and monitoring capabilities.

The argument, however, is not simply about financial responsibility but also about India’s own exposure to the same changing Himalayan environment.

INDIA'S OWN HIMALAYAN PROBLEM

Nepal’s disaster came after several major Himalayan disasters in India.

The 2021 Chamoli disaster in Uttarakhand, triggered by a rock-and-ice avalanche, caused a devastating flash flood.

In 2023, the South Lhonak glacial lake outburst flood in Sikkim showed how quickly a high-altitude event can cascade downstream, damaging infrastructure and communities.

Experts have also pointed out that the 2026 Nepal flood itself should not be casually labelled a conventional glacial lake outburst flood.

Emerging evidence indicates that an avalanche may have triggered a cascading debris-flow event.

That distinction shows how climate risks in the Himalayas are becoming more complicated.

Rising temperatures can affect glaciers, snow, rainfall and frozen ground simultaneously, creating hazards that are difficult to predict using older risk models.

RESPONSE SHOULD CROSS BORDERS

India already has significant satellite, weather-monitoring and disaster-management capabilities.

The challenge is connecting these systems across the Himalayan region.

Real-time sharing of rainfall, river and glacier data between India and Nepal, stronger early-warning networks and joint assessments of vulnerable infrastructure could give downstream communities more time to respond.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has similarly called for stronger regional cooperation, noting that the increasing frequency of cryosphere-related hazards is becoming harder for existing systems to keep pace with.

Mathur’s broader point is therefore relevant beyond the debate over climate compensation.

“India must make joint projects resilience-first, directing part of infrastructure funds to an adaptation fund for climate-proof local works, safer slopes and mountain livelihoods," he wrote.

Nepal’s tragedy has clearly, and tragically, demonstrated why cooperation will play a major role in battling a changing climate in the region.

The Himalayas are an apt example; a vast system that may be divided by national borders, but its rivers, glaciers and climate risks are not.

- Ends