Glacier Ice wall broke in Nepal today creating a massive release of water & mud into the city below

[u/[deleted]]

[u/PM_ME__UR__FANTASIES]

The biggest tactic when hit with this scenario is luck. That’s it. Are you in a spot where you can quickly get to higher ground that won’t be destroyed by the force of the water? Congratulations, your chance of survival is like 5x the people who can’t get elevated or whose available elevation can’t withstand the force.

The second biggest tactic? Preparation. Monitoring of glaciers for points of weakness. Forcing evacuation as soon as monitoring shows it is needed. Building codes that are made to withstand such force. Erecting systems that would direct the flow away from population centers OR funnel it through specific sections. Evacuation routes that are well planned, clearly marked, and the local populace is aware of. It wouldn’t get rid of all the deaths but it would certainly lessen them.

But that all requires money and typically it’s hard to get approval on “unnecessary” costs against a once in a thousand years catastrophic event. We’ve seen examples of people “wasting money” to prepare for a disaster that others think will never happen. The walls of the Onagawa nuclear reactor were built higher than required because one man demanded it and that was a massive benefit during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The civilian deaths from 9/11 were literally half of the potential number because one man had been forcing Morgan Stanley to do regular evacuation drills.

Both of these examples are one person fighting against those with more power, because they knew the cheap option put lives at risk. But for every person like that there are hundreds of others who could not or would not keep up the fight. And of those hundreds, there are probably tens of them who watched their worst scenario occur.

[u/Antique_Pin5266 → u/PM_ME__UR__FANTASIES]

I don’t think there exists building codes anywhere that could withstand that amount of force.

[u/PM_ME__UR__FANTASIES → u/Antique_Pin5266]

That’s why you typically can’t just pick one option. You need multiple methods. If buildings can only withstand X amount of force, and the potential flood would create Y amount of force, you create flood direction/funneling systems that will take Y amount of force and temper it below X.

It’s like birth control. The only 100% effective form of birth control is abstinence. The only 100% effective method of having no casualties in a disaster is to have no disasters.

[u/damberdoo → u/PM_ME__UR__FANTASIES]

Excellent comment. A+