Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah has appealed for action to combat the rising threat of climate change, calling the Àood that devastated his country last month “a warning to the world”.
Shah made the comments during his address to the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 24. He told the gathering that the August disaster “was not just a local tragedy”, asking them the question, “Have you really heard that warning?”
Political leaders “have been negligent to translate those warnings in action at the speed and scale that the vulnerable people require,” he said. At least 1,453 people died when a torrent of mud, rock and water struck northern Nepal and the China-Tibet border on August 26, triggered by a glacial collapse.
According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 5,500 people were still missing and 13,795 had been rescued.
Researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said in a report released last week that the disaster was not caused by a single extreme weather event, but rather a “compound crisis” shaped by long-term warming, glacier retreat, permafrost thaw and geological instability.
Shah said climate change was hurting people not responsible for the crisis but who “are paying a colossal price for it”. He urged the international community to help bear the cost of helping Nepal adapt to climate change.
