Nepal PM demands climate action after Himalayan disaster

KATHMANDU, Sept 1:  Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said last week's deadly Himalayan flood was "not an ordinary" event but driven by climate change, as he demanded international action.
The huge wave of freezing water and debris, sparked by a glacial collapse on the China-Nepal border, killed at least 939 people and left nearly 4,500 missing, with Kathmandu warning reconstruction costs could run into the "billions of dollars".
"The flood in the BhoteKoshi River in Rasuwa was not an ordinary flood," Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media post late Monday.
"It was one of the region's major disasters, triggered by an avalanche of snow and ice in the Himalayan region," he said.
While the exact cause of the collapse is unclear, climate change is causing glaciers to melt worldwide, increasing the risk of such disasters.�" AFP