A monitoring committee responded to the deadly Nepal flood by creating a form for ice to fill in.
After a glacier-fed flood killed at least 160 people in Nepal, a monitoring panel ruled that glaciers must file twenty-six days' written notice before shedding ice. The form must be posted, in triplicate, to an office that shuts at four. A hydrologist pointed out that warning sirens cost less than the meeting.
A monitoring committee ruled on Monday that glaciers must give twenty-six days' written notice before shedding any ice.
The ruling follows the flood in Nepal, where a wall of water took out bridges, schools and homes across several valleys. At least 160 people died. Scientists think a chunk of ice broke off a glacier and emptied a lake down the mountain.
The committee did not discuss sirens. It discussed paperwork.
"The ice detached with no notice given," said Nils Kettering, who chairs the panel. "That is our central finding. Everything after that follows from it."
The new form runs to four pages. It must be filed in triplicate, by post, at an office two valleys down from the nearest glacier. The office shuts at four.
"We are not asking ice to stop. We are asking ice to tell us first."
I asked to see every notice the office has received since it opened. There were twenty-six. All twenty-six came from ski resorts asking about parking. None came from a glacier.
There was no comparison group. Glaciers do not file, so there is nothing to compare them with.
Kettering said the melting itself was not on the agenda. He said melting is logged under routine maintenance and reviewed every other year.
Anouk Pell, a hydrologist who was not invited, has spent years arguing for warning towers above these lakes. A tower watches the water level and sets off a siren downstream. She was asked whether they work.
"They work," she said. "People get about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes is enough to walk uphill. I know this is not an exciting answer. It is the answer."
Pell added that the towers cost less than the committee's meeting. She said this in a flat voice and then apologised for the lack of drama.
Kettering called her position premature. He said the panel cannot fund towers until it establishes whether the ice was properly served.
A follow-up review is scheduled in twenty-six months. The glacier has not confirmed that it will attend.
The lake above the valley is still filling.
