Along the China-Nepal border, where the Tibetan plateau meets the Himalayas, a mudslide has done what nature sometimes does — solved one crisis by creating another. The town of Gyirong now lives in the shadow of an unintended lake, held back by nothing more than the debris of its own disaster, with hundreds still missing and thousands more watching the water rise. In the days ahead, the question is not merely hydrological but deeply human: whether the earth will hold, and whether the time bought by evacuation will be enough.
China warns of catastrophic flood risk from mudslide-formed lake at Nepal border
Hundreds reported missing from the initial mudslide; 499 residents and 555 tourists evacuated from the disaster zone.