Millions at risk due to flooding from melting mountain glaciers: Report

A new study has revealed that nearly 15 million people across the world are at risk of catastrophic flooding from melting mountain glaciers.

With temperatures across the planet increasing due to global warming, the glaciers melt and form glacial lakes. The increase in the volume of meltwater in such lakes threatens the population living nearby such bodies.

The study, conducted by Newcastle University and published in the journal Nature Communications assessed the living conditions of the people living downstream from the glacial lakes.

'There are a large number of people globally exposed to the impacts of these floods. It could happen at any point - that's what makes them particularly dangerous, because it's hard to predict exactly when they will happen," said the authors of the study.

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They added that people living in India, Pakistan, China and Peru faced the greatest threat. In Asia, around a million people lived within a 10-kilometre radius of a glacial lake.

Since the onset of the 20th century, thousand of glacial lakes have been formed. These water bodies often are contained behind natural dams viz. rocks and debris in high mountains.

However, there's only so much protection the mountainous terrain can provide.

The 2013 Kedarnath floods in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand that took the lives of over 6,000 was caused by the flooding of a glacial lake. Record unseasonal monsoon rains and cloud burst added to the glacier lake outburst.

Overall, the world's glaciers have lost 332 gigatonnes of glacier ice every year between 2006 and 2016. Since 1990, the number of glacial lakes across the world has increased by 50 per cent.

According to reports, over 2,800 glacial floods have been observed so far and 12,000 have lost their lives. If humans do not control their habits and continue to contribute to climate change, glacial floods may become a common theme in the coming years.

(With inputs from agencies)

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