This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The catastrophic flood in Nepal and Tibet is a devastating reminder that disasters rarely occur in isolation. A massive collapse of glacial ice, rock and debris high in the Himalayas generated destructive flash flooding that swept through interconnected river valleys, killing hundreds, leaving many more people missing and damaging villages, towns and infrastructure.
The dead include Nepalis as well as tourists visiting from other countries, including dozens of Canadians and Americans. Yet focusing only on the physical trigger risks missing a larger story. Our research with communities in Nepal and elsewhere has increasingly led us to understand disasters as interconnected ecological, social, cultural, health, economic and governance crises.
We therefore need to ask both what caused this disaster and why hazards become human catastrophes. Who bears their consequences? And who carries responsibility for reducing the conditions that make communities vulnerable?
These questions were central to our recently published study on community-led earthquake preparedness in Kathmandu. More than a decade after Nepal's 2015 earthquake, community members described a disaster that, in important ways, had never completely ended. They spoke of prolonged displacement, incomplete reconstruction, disappearing water sources, livelihood insecurity, psychological trauma and inadequate institutional support.
Their experiences challenge conventional ideas of recovery. Rebuilding houses and roads does not necessarily mean a community has recovered. Water, livelihoods, mental health, social relationships, ecological systems and trust in institutions are interconnected.
When one system becomes unstable, vulnerability can cascade through others. This is why the present catastrophe is so urgent. We are increasingly facing a polycrisis in which climate pressures, biodiversity decline, water insecurity, infrastructure vulnerabilities, social inequalities and governance failures interact rather than occur independently.
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