'The lakes up there were already at the brink due to accumulated rainwater, and then snowmelt occurred.' 'When one lake breached, it triggered a cascading effect -- other lakes breached subsequently.'
'...they always address problems superficially, never tackling root causes.' 'Currently, the policy response will focus on immediate relief -- getting people to safety, providing facilities, clearing debris.' 'This is necessary, but once immediate relief operations end, everything returns to 'normal' without addressing underlying vulnerabilities.'
A cardiologist, Pradeep Srivastava, of Potomac, Maryland, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for evading more than $16 million in income taxes for 1998 and 1999 and filing a false tax return for 2000.
'Half of China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, which are among the most populous countries in the world, are dependent on the rivers and glaciers of the Himalayas for sustenance.'
'Geological processes occur at time scales that are beyond human imagination, but we need to understand these events.'
'Above 2,000 metres the gradient of the Himalayas is very steep and if you build any infrastructure (roads, dams, hydro power projects) in these regions, it will not be able to sustain these events (the onslaught of debris that comes down with great speeds).'