China-Nepal disaster: early study shows no one could have outrun debris flow

The first Chinese study of the Nepal-Tibet disaster found that the surface velocity of the debris flow from the flash floods was moving at about 19 metres (62ft) per second when it first struck Gyrong Port in Tibet. The speed is almost twice the average pace of the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, when he set the 100-metre record in 2009. While it is still not clear what caused the avalanche that triggered the flooding, Chinese scientists say that rising global temperatures are causing ice in the Himalayas to melt faster. At least 16 people have died and more than 546 others remain missing on the China side of the disaster zone, while the death toll on the Nepal side has reached 1,058 with 4,606 still missing.