What we know — and don’t know — about what cause the Nepal flood wave | CNN

Scientists investigating the cause of the devastating flash floods that tore through the Nepal-China border on Wednesday — swallowing towns, roads and bridges and causing significant loss of life — are zeroing in on the theory that the disaster was triggered by a huge glacier collapse and landslide. Nepal is a hotspot for climate disasters as the planet heats up. Vast swaths of ice up in the Himalayas are melting, and rocky mountainsides are becoming less solid and more fluid. Scientists are still working to determine exactly what caused the disaster, but here’s what we know so far. The first indication that something was amiss came at 8:37 a.m. local time, when the earth started shaking along the Nepal-China border, north of Kathmandu. It was initially reported as an earthquake by the US Geological Survey’s automated earthquake detection network, but later clarified the shaking was caused by an exceptionally powerful glacier collapse and debris flow, equivalent to a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. Comparing satellite images from before and after the disaster, scientists have established that an enormous chunk of glacier sheared off from high on a mountain. From there, it plunged