https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNLgXuQZU1Q 30 MINUTES OF INACTION KILLED THOUSANDS! Tibet-Nepal Mudslide Truth China Can’t Hide 3 September 2026 #chinaobserver This tense and fearful voice came from a villager in Sare Township, Gyirong County, Tibet. The area is one of the hardest-hit regions in China and is among the closest locations to the glacier collapse site. The video shows thick fog covering the area, accompanied by continuous rumbling sounds. The most notable detail is that the news caption at the time clearly stated: “At around 10:30 a.m. on August 26, a mudslide disaster occurred on the Nepal side, causing major casualties and missing people at Gyirong Port in Gyirong County, Shigatse City, Tibet.” Keep in mind this was the initial official time given: 10:30 a.m. The village chief of Sechong Village in Sare Township, the Party secretary of Labi Village, also clearly recalled what happened during interviews with local media. Transcript Take a look at Nepal. Oh my god, the mudslide is coming. The entire mountain across from us is collapsing. I'm right here. 0:1414 secondsThis tense and fearful voice came from a villager in Sar Township, Giron County, Tibet. The area is one of the hardest 0:2121 secondshit regions in China and is among the closest locations to the glacier collapse site. The video shows thick fog covering the area. accompanied by 0:3030 secondscontinuous rumbling sounds. The news caption at the time clearly stated, "At around 10:30 a.m. on August 26, a 0:3838 secondsmudslide occurred on the Nepal side, causing major casualties and missing people in Girong." Keep in mind, this 0:4545 secondswas the initial official time given, 10:30 a.m. The village chief of Sichon village in Sar Township and the party 0:5353 secondssecretary of Lai village also clearly recalled what happened during interviews with local media. 1:021 minute, 2 secondsIt was all mud and fog. We couldn't see anything. The sound and force were enormous. Even the houses were shaking. 1:091 minute, 9 secondsIt felt like an earthquake. The sound was like explosions. When we had the earthquake here in Guirong in 2015, it 1:171 minute, 17 secondssounded exactly like this. There was also this kind of fog. The mudslide looked reddish, mixed with red soil and 1:241 minute, 24 secondsmud. When it happened, it hadn't been raining at all. If there had been heavy rain, we would have kept checking the area. But that day, there was no rain. 1:321 minute, 32 secondsAnd the whole time, we still don't understand how this happened. Their accounts reveal a critical detail. 1:391 minute, 39 secondsBefore the mudslide, there were massive rumbling sounds and noticeable ground shaking. While the area did not experience the heavy rainfall normally 1:461 minute, 46 secondsassociated with mudslides, this unusual event is considered a typical warning sign of high alitude 1:541 minute, 54 secondsmountain collapse. Unfortunately, after hearing the sounds, they did not report the situation or take any evacuation 2:012 minutes, 1 secondmeasures, missing a possible opportunity to help villagers escape. More precise evidence came from a Chinese photographer and a traveler known online 2:092 minutes, 9 secondsas Heymu. On the morning of August 26th, he conducted aerial photography at the Asia number one viewing platform. Three
timestamped photos he later released became key evidence for reconstructing the early stages of the disaster. 2:282 minutes, 28 secondsWhile organizing the footage I shot that day, I found another major clue about the timeline. It mainly comes from these three photos. The first photo was taken 2:372 minutes, 37 secondsat 8:27 a.m. The Kim Chong Peak was still completely calm. The second photo was taken at 9:33 a.m. The glacier below 2:462 minutes, 46 secondswas still unchanged. The most important moment was the third photo taken at 10:21 a.m. You can clearly see that 2:542 minutes, 54 secondsthere was still no glacier collapse. The glacier was still intact, but smoke had already appeared below it. This shows that a rock collapse happened first and 3:033 minutes, 3 secondsthen caused a glacier above to collapse afterward. That is also why we began hearing the rumbling sounds around 10:30. 3:113 minutes, 11 secondsThe experience of Hube tourist Wong Yi Jin closely matches this timeline. 3:163 minutes, 16 secondsAccording to cover news, Wong went hiking toward the Asia number one viewing platform early on August 26th. 3:223 minutes, 22 secondsHe said that as early as 7:20 a.m., he heard rumbling sounds, which he later realized were the first smaller glacier collapses. He recalled around 10:30 a.m. 3:333 minutes, 33 secondswhile we were hiking, we saw a large-scale glacier collapse in the direction of the Loce Peak area. The collapse lasted about 2 or 3 minutes. 3:413 minutes, 41 secondsThe collapsed area was quickly covered by clouds, making it impossible to see what was happening below, but we could clearly see dust and mist rising into 3:493 minutes, 49 secondsthe air. Early reports from Chinese state media, including Shingua, as well as the Phoenix News, all stated that the 3:563 minutes, 56 secondsmudslide occurred at 10:30 a.m. They generally emphasized that a massive crossber mudslide triggered by a mountain collapse on the Nepal side 4:054 minutes, 5 secondsswept into Giron County, Tibet. However, the main collapse that determined the fate of Gironport occurred at the second 4:124 minutes, 12 secondscritical moment, 10:52 a.m. Beijing time. At that point, the glacier collapse fully erupted. The USGS Global 4:214 minutes, 21 secondsSeismographic Network intense seismic waves. It initially misidentified the event as a natural magnitude 4.4 4:284 minutes, 28 secondsearthquake. Later that afternoon, USGS experts conducted a manual review, ruled out a tectonic earthquake, and 4:364 minutes, 36 secondsofficially revised the event as ground shaking caused by a massive landslide with an energy equivalent to a magnitude 4:444 minutes, 44 seconds5.2 event. About 24 hours after the disaster, USGS released its first scientific report on the event using 4:524 minutes, 52 secondssatellite images from the US LANCAT 9 satellite. The report officially revealed to the world that the disaster originated from a massive high altitude 5:005 minutesglacier collapse on the northern slope of Lantang Ryang Peak. A section of the glacier measuring 0.8 mi wide suddenly 5:085 minutes, 8 secondsfractured and collapsed as a whole. The report was later widely cited by scientists around the world and became one of the most important sources for 5:165 minutes, 16 secondsreconstructing the critical timeline of the mudslide. Based on eyewitness accounts and media reports, we can now reconstruct the disaster's actual
timeline. At 7:20 a.m. that morning, the first smaller glacier collapse occurred. 5:315 minutes, 31 secondsAt 10:21 a.m., the bedrock underneath Lantang Ryang Peak showed the first signs of a precursor rock collapse 5:385 minutes, 38 secondsvisible as dust and smoke rising from the base of the mountain. Milliseconds later, local seismic instruments recorded the first clear ground shaking 5:465 minutes, 46 secondssignal. USGS and Associated Press analysis later found that this was not simply a spontaneous glacier collapse. 5:545 minutes, 54 secondsInstead, the bedrock underneath the glacier first became unstable and partially collapsed. The rockfall struck the valley, generating an impact 6:026 minutes, 2 secondsequivalent to a magnitude 3.8 earthquake. After the rock collapse, large amounts of debris and ice began grinding, scraping, and pushing through 6:106 minutes, 10 secondsearlier glacial deposits deep in the valley. This may explain why some villagers reported seeing sparks through the thick fog. The displaced glacial 6:196 minutes, 19 secondsmaterial entered the river valley, causing a sudden rise in water levels and triggering the first wave of mud flow. This was the scene witnessed by 6:276 minutes, 27 secondsvillagers in Sar Township at around 10:30 a.m. Comparing this timeline with official surveillance footage released 6:346 minutes, 34 secondsfrom Girong Port, the video shows that the mudslide entered the port area at around 10:59 a.m. moving at an estimated 6:416 minutes, 41 secondsspeed of about 164 ft per second. The footage was cut off immediately afterward. Taken together, the evidence 6:496 minutes, 49 secondsshows a sequence from the bedrock collapse at 10:21 a.m. to the glacier collapse at around 10:30 and finally to the debris flow reaching Gironport at 6:586 minutes, 58 seconds10:59. There was a window of roughly 30 to 38 minutes before the initial warning signs and the disaster reaching the port. With modern geological monitoring 7:077 minutes, 7 secondstechnology, a glacier and rock collapse of this scale could potentially be detected through acoustic sensors or remote sensing systems. If monitoring 7:157 minutes, 15 secondsagencies had issued warnings at 10:21 or 10:30, personnel at the bottom of the valley near the port would have had enough time to evacuate toward higher ground along the slopes on both sides. 7:267 minutes, 26 secondsFor Nepal, timely warnings could also have given residents living along the river more opportunities to escape and significantly reduced casualties. 7:357 minutes, 35 secondsHowever, due to failures by relevant Chinese authorities and local officials, the critical evacuation window was missed. The result was that the impact 7:437 minutes, 43 secondsof the disaster was greatly amplified, turning it into a tragedy that took thousands of people. Now, looking at current reports from Chinese state 7:517 minutes, 51 secondsmedia, the reported time of the mudslide was uniformly changed from the earlier 10:30 to 10:52 a.m. More questions were 7:597 minutes, 59 secondsraised when photographer Heyu said on his Doian account that all of his original videos related to the disaster had been removed by the platform. These 8:088 minutes, 8 secondsvaluable raw materials, which had been used by experts for scientific analysis, have now disappeared from the internet. 8:148 minutes, 14 secondsSuch strict control over firstirhand footage inevitably raises questions about whether authorities were attempting to conceal the reality. 8:228 minutes, 22 secondsHowever, no matter how much information is suppressed, the internet can still reveal some clues. According to Mr. Joe, an insider familiar with the emergency 8:318 minutes, 31 secondsresponse system. Relevant authorities in Tibet had already detected abnormal conditions upstream through monitoring system before the disaster and 8:398 minutes, 39 secondsdetermined that the mudslide's path was directly heading towards Girong port.
Mr. Joe said looking at the disaster timeline, authorities in Tibet had already detected the danger before the mudslide reached the port and they 8:528 minutes, 52 secondsdetermined the direction was toward Girong. But officials in Tibet did not take it seriously, resulting in hundreds of people being buried and the customs 9:009 minutesbuilding being destroyed. At the time of the disaster, staff at the local environmental monitoring center made a simple comparison between this event and 9:089 minutes, 8 secondsthe glacial lake outburst flood that struck in 2025. Based on previous experience, they believed the scale of the disaster was manageable. As a 9:179 minutes, 17 secondsresult, they did not raise the warning level, did not urgently report the situation to authorities in Beijing, and did not initiate evacuation procedures. 9:269 minutes, 26 secondsMr. Joe said they waited until the mudslide reached Gironport before reporting it. By then, it was already too late. This was a failure of disaster 9:359 minutes, 35 secondswarning systems, and someone in Tibet will definitely have to take responsibility. In its post- disaster briefing, China's Ministry of Natural 9:439 minutes, 43 secondsResources stated that the disaster was a chain disaster triggered by a high altitude glacier collapse on Lang Riang Peak in Nepal. Tens of millions of cubic 9:529 minutes, 52 secondsmeters of ice fell from above, scraping glacial deposits along the valley and forming a high-speed debris flow that later developed into a mudslide. Its 10:0110 minutes, 1 secondphysical characteristics were completely different from the glacial lake outburst flood that occurred in July 2025. A high 10:0810 minutes, 8 secondsaltitude debris flow has far greater density and destructive force than a conventional flood. Local officials used experience from dealing with ordinary 10:1610 minutes, 16 secondsfloods to respond to a sudden high altitude rock and ice collapse leading to catastrophic consequences. 10:2210 minutes, 22 secondsGansu geological expert Mr. Chen pointed out systemic problems in grassroots emergency management. When monitoring departments detect abnormalities 10:3110 minutes, 31 secondsupstream, they should immediately issue the highest level warning. evacuate people downstream as quickly as possible and only then determine the full scale 10:3910 minutes, 39 secondsof the disaster. The local bureaucrats handle the situation carelessly and used experience from the previous disaster to deal with a new threat. Every time a 10:4810 minutes, 48 secondsdisaster happens, we see the same pattern repeated. So many people were buried. This was caused by human factors. Mr. Chen also cited flooding in 10:5710 minutes, 57 secondsGuangshi as an example, saying similar delays in issuing warnings are widespread across different regions, exposing weaknesses in China's disaster 11:0511 minutes, 5 secondsprevention system. In terms of the official response, authorities did not activate a level two geological disaster emergency response until about 4 and 1/2 hours after the disaster occurred. 11:1511 minutes, 15 secondsBecause the missing people included 261 foreign nationals from more than 20 countries, including 18 Americans, the 11:2211 minutes, 22 secondsincident quickly attracted international attention. Under pressure from foreign embassies in China seeking information, China's top leadership took over the 11:3011 minutes, 30 secondsrescue operation. Premier Lee Chong traveled to the disaster area in Tibet the following day. However, the official Palipo meeting report did not mention 11:3911 minutes, 39 secondsany issue involving delayed reporting by officials. It also didn't explain why after the 2025 disaster, authorities had 11:4611 minutes, 46 secondsnot reassessed the location of the port or establish an effective crossber early warning system. Regarding the deeper causes of the disaster, renowned water
resources expert Dr. Wong Wei Lo conducted a detailed scientific analysis. He said the natural trigger was the ice and rock collapse, but human 12:0312 minutes, 3 secondschanges to the local terrain were a key factor that amplified the destructive impact. In analyzing the natural causes, 12:1112 minutes, 11 secondsWong challenged the Chinese government's single explanation that the disaster was simply caused by a glacier collapse. He 12:1812 minutes, 18 secondscited the view of French geologist Kristen Cook from the University of Grenobyl who said the disaster involved the collapse of both the glacier and the 12:2612 minutes, 26 secondsbedrock beneath it. Long-term global warming has caused glacial retreat and instability across the Tibetan plateau. 12:3312 minutes, 33 secondsWhile the 2015 magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal severely damaged the geological structure of the rock beneath the 12:4012 minutes, 40 secondsglaciers. Over the years, the weakened rock eventually contributed to this massive collapse. Regarding human 12:4712 minutes, 47 secondsfactors, Wong emphasized the impact of engineering activities that altered natural river channels. The key reason the mudslide dealt such a devastating 12:5512 minutes, 55 secondsblow to Gironport was that human activities changed the terrain at the point where the Dolin SO river reaches the Giron SO river. The river channel 13:0313 minutes, 3 secondsbecame narrower, forcing the mud flow to rise higher. During the expansion of Giron Port, efforts to secure more construction space inevitably led to 13:1213 minutes, 12 secondsmodifications of the surrounding environment. At the point where the Doling Sampo flows into the Giron Sampo, the river channel was significantly narrowed due to construction activities. 13:2313 minutes, 23 secondsAccording to fluid dynamics, when tens of millions of cubic meters of debris rushed downstream, the flood waters that would normally spread into surrounding 13:3113 minutes, 31 secondsflood planes and reduce their speed and depth became confined within a narrow artificial channel. The narrower the river channel, the smaller the 13:3913 minutes, 39 secondscross-sectional area available for the debris flow. As a result, the height and speed increase dramatically while its destructive impact on surrounding facilities is amplified exponentially. 13:5013 minutes, 50 secondsAI expert and founder of the Taiwan AI labs, Du Yi Jun, expressed a similar view. Gironport is essentially a large 13:5813 minutes, 58 secondsillegal structure built on a river channel. It compresses the flood passage. When humans compete with rivers for land, nature eventually strikes back 14:0614 minutes, 6 secondsand disaster becomes inevitable. Wi law further pointed out that this type of engineering approach which ignores high 14:1314 minutes, 13 secondsaltitude geological risks is not uncommon across the Tibetan plateau. 14:1814 minutes, 18 secondsProfessor Kung Fong from China Agricultural University also said the region lies along the active Himalayan fault zone where the effects of 14:2614 minutes, 26 secondsearthquake disturbances can have long delays and continue supplying solid material for debris flow for more than a decade. In such a fragile geological
resources expert Dr. Wong Wei Lo conducted a detailed scientific analysis. He said the natural trigger was the ice and rock collapse, but human 12:0312 minutes, 3 secondschanges to the local terrain were a key factor that amplified the destructive impact. In analyzing the natural causes, 12:1112 minutes, 11 secondsWong challenged the Chinese government's single explanation that the disaster was simply caused by a glacier collapse. He 12:1812 minutes, 18 secondscited the view of French geologist Kristen Cook from the University of Grenobyl who said the disaster involved the collapse of both the glacier and the 12:2612 minutes, 26 secondsbedrock beneath it. Long-term global warming has caused glacial retreat and instability across the Tibetan plateau. 12:3312 minutes, 33 secondsWhile the 2015 magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal severely damaged the geological structure of the rock beneath the 12:4012 minutes, 40 secondsglaciers. Over the years, the weakened rock eventually contributed to this massive collapse. Regarding human 12:4712 minutes, 47 secondsfactors, Wong emphasized the impact of engineering activities that altered natural river channels. The key reason the mudslide dealt such a devastating 12:5512 minutes, 55 secondsblow to Gironport was that human activities changed the terrain at the point where the Dolin SO river reaches the Giron SO river. The river channel 13:0313 minutes, 3 secondsbecame narrower, forcing the mud flow to rise higher. During the expansion of Giron Port, efforts to secure more construction space inevitably led to 13:1213 minutes, 12 secondsmodifications of the surrounding environment. At the point where the Doling Sampo flows into the Giron Sampo, the river channel was significantly narrowed due to construction activities. 13:2313 minutes, 23 secondsAccording to fluid dynamics, when tens of millions of cubic meters of debris rushed downstream, the flood waters that would normally spread into surrounding 13:3113 minutes, 31 secondsflood planes and reduce their speed and depth became confined within a narrow artificial channel. The narrower the river channel, the smaller the 13:3913 minutes, 39 secondscross-sectional area available for the debris flow. As a result, the height and speed increase dramatically while its destructive impact on surrounding facilities is amplified exponentially. 13:5013 minutes, 50 secondsAI expert and founder of the Taiwan AI labs, Du Yi Jun, expressed a similar view. Gironport is essentially a large 13:5813 minutes, 58 secondsillegal structure built on a river channel. It compresses the flood passage. When humans compete with rivers for land, nature eventually strikes back 14:0614 minutes, 6 secondsand disaster becomes inevitable. Wi law further pointed out that this type of engineering approach which ignores high 14:1314 minutes, 13 secondsaltitude geological risks is not uncommon across the Tibetan plateau. 14:1814 minutes, 18 secondsProfessor Kung Fong from China Agricultural University also said the region lies along the active Himalayan fault zone where the effects of 14:2614 minutes, 26 secondsearthquake disturbances can have long delays and continue supplying solid material for debris flow for more than a decade. In such a fragile geological
environment, major infrastructure projects including the planned meduk hydro power project on the lower reaches of the yarlong sampo also face extremely 14:4514 minutes, 45 secondshigh risks from rock and ice collapses and debris flows. Tibetan writer Saniel Gatso warned as early as 2018 that 14:5314 minutes, 53 secondslarge-scale construction of reservoirs, hydropower stations, and mining activities in the region could significantly increase geological disaster risks and threaten the 15:0215 minutes, 2 secondsstability of the Asian water tower. This crossber mudslide not only destroyed Gironport but also caused major 15:0915 minutes, 9 secondscasualties downstream in Nepal. The disaster has triggered criticism and frustration among Nepalese scholars and media over the lack of substantial cooperation between the two countries. 15:1915 minutes, 19 secondsDr. Basanta Raj Adikari, a disaster research expert at Tripavan University in Nepal publicly called for stronger 15:2715 minutes, 27 secondsinformation sharing and early warning systems between the two countries. 15:3115 minutes, 31 secondsAccording to an investigation by Reuters, Nepal had actively sought cooperation with China on disaster monitoring three months before the 15:3915 minutes, 39 secondsdisaster occurred. On May 27th, Chinese and Nepalese officials held a meeting in Cathmandeue. Nepal proposed 15:4615 minutes, 46 secondsstrengthening cooperation on monitoring floods, weather conditions, and glacier related disasters. It also called for joint risk reduction measures, including 15:5515 minutes, 55 secondsa shared survey of glacial lakes and the creation of disaster risk maps. However, Nepalese hydrarology expert Binad Pajuli 16:0416 minutes, 4 secondsrevealed that Chinese representatives said they had not yet received authorization to sign a cooperation agreement. They only suggested further 16:1216 minutes, 12 secondsdiscussions, causing the cooperation plan to stall. Nepal news reported that Nepal lacks a dense real-time monitoring 16:1916 minutes, 19 secondsnetwork in its northern high altitude glacial lake regions and can only rely on periodic satellite surveys. The 2025 16:2716 minutes, 27 secondsflood disaster had already shown that the river valley was a high-risisk area, but progress on early warning infrastructure remained slow. The report 16:3516 minutes, 35 secondssuggested that if both sides had reached a cooperation agreement, one year would have been enough to install a basic sensor network upstream. Professor Kung 16:4316 minutes, 43 secondsFang from China Agricultural University also acknowledged that a major challenge in crossber debris flow warnings is that the disaster source is located outside 16:5216 minutes, 52 secondsthe country making it difficult to deploy groundbased monitoring equipment. 16:5716 minutes, 57 secondsChina's foreign ministry responded that it had always shared relevant hydraological data in a timely manner and assisted Nepal with disaster 17:0417 minutes, 4 secondsprevention. However, Reuters review found that China's latest warning data sent to Nepal was on August 14th, 17:1217 minutes, 12 secondsconsisting of a routine monsoon rainfall forecast based on weather models. There was a clear difference in both timing and nature between that forecast and the 17:2017 minutes, 20 secondssudden ice and rock collapse. Regarding data sharing, Dr. Wong Lo said China currently has the technological capability to monitor glaciers across 17:2917 minutes, 29 secondsthe Tibetan plateau. He pointed out that Chinese researchers have even mapped the distribution of hidden rock glaciers across the plateau. He believes one 17:3817 minutes, 38 secondsreason an effective warning system has not been established is that hydraological and meteorological data can sometimes become politicized. He
said if Nepal's relationship with the authorities is good, China may provide more data. But if policies change, data sharing can also be affected. Indian 17:5517 minutes, 55 secondsstrategic scholar Brahma Chaleni also pointed out that Nepal has long sought to establish a bilateral early warning agreement with China but has failed to 18:0318 minutes, 3 secondscreate a formal information sharing mechanism similar to the one they have with India as climate change increases the risk of crossber geological 18:1218 minutes, 12 secondsdisasters. The lack of transparent and real-time data sharing could leave billions of people across the Himalayas facing greater safety risks.
8 comments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNLgXuQZU1Q
30 MINUTES OF INACTION KILLED THOUSANDS! Tibet-Nepal Mudslide Truth China Can’t Hide 3 September 2026 #chinaobserver
This tense and fearful voice came from a villager in Sare Township, Gyirong County, Tibet. The area is one of the hardest-hit regions in China and is among the closest locations to the glacier collapse site. The video shows thick fog covering the area, accompanied by continuous rumbling sounds.
The most notable detail is that the news caption at the time clearly stated: “At around 10:30 a.m. on August 26, a mudslide disaster occurred on the Nepal side, causing major casualties and missing people at Gyirong Port in Gyirong County, Shigatse City, Tibet.” Keep in mind this was the initial official time given: 10:30 a.m. The village chief of Sechong Village in Sare Township, the Party secretary of Labi Village, also clearly recalled what happened during interviews with local media. Transcript Take a look at Nepal. Oh my god, the mudslide is coming. The entire mountain across from us is collapsing. I'm right here.
0:1414 secondsThis tense and fearful voice came from a villager in Sar Township, Giron County, Tibet. The area is one of the hardest
0:2121 secondshit regions in China and is among the closest locations to the glacier collapse site. The video shows thick fog covering the area. accompanied by
0:3030 secondscontinuous rumbling sounds. The news caption at the time clearly stated, "At around 10:30 a.m. on August 26, a
0:3838 secondsmudslide occurred on the Nepal side, causing major casualties and missing people in Girong." Keep in mind, this
0:4545 secondswas the initial official time given, 10:30 a.m. The village chief of Sichon village in Sar Township and the party
0:5353 secondssecretary of Lai village also clearly recalled what happened during interviews with local media.
1:021 minute, 2 secondsIt was all mud and fog. We couldn't see anything. The sound and force were enormous. Even the houses were shaking.
1:091 minute, 9 secondsIt felt like an earthquake. The sound was like explosions. When we had the earthquake here in Guirong in 2015, it
1:171 minute, 17 secondssounded exactly like this. There was also this kind of fog. The mudslide looked reddish, mixed with red soil and
1:241 minute, 24 secondsmud. When it happened, it hadn't been raining at all. If there had been heavy rain, we would have kept checking the area. But that day, there was no rain.
1:321 minute, 32 secondsAnd the whole time, we still don't understand how this happened. Their accounts reveal a critical detail.
1:391 minute, 39 secondsBefore the mudslide, there were massive rumbling sounds and noticeable ground shaking. While the area did not experience the heavy rainfall normally
1:461 minute, 46 secondsassociated with mudslides, this unusual event is considered a typical warning sign of high alitude
1:541 minute, 54 secondsmountain collapse. Unfortunately, after hearing the sounds, they did not report the situation or take any evacuation
2:012 minutes, 1 secondmeasures, missing a possible opportunity to help villagers escape. More precise evidence came from a Chinese photographer and a traveler known online
2:092 minutes, 9 secondsas Heymu. On the morning of August 26th, he conducted aerial photography at the Asia number one viewing platform. Three
timestamped photos he later released became key evidence for reconstructing the early stages of the disaster.
2:282 minutes, 28 secondsWhile organizing the footage I shot that day, I found another major clue about the timeline. It mainly comes from these three photos. The first photo was taken
2:372 minutes, 37 secondsat 8:27 a.m. The Kim Chong Peak was still completely calm. The second photo was taken at 9:33 a.m. The glacier below
2:462 minutes, 46 secondswas still unchanged. The most important moment was the third photo taken at 10:21 a.m. You can clearly see that
2:542 minutes, 54 secondsthere was still no glacier collapse. The glacier was still intact, but smoke had already appeared below it. This shows that a rock collapse happened first and
3:033 minutes, 3 secondsthen caused a glacier above to collapse afterward. That is also why we began hearing the rumbling sounds around 10:30.
3:113 minutes, 11 secondsThe experience of Hube tourist Wong Yi Jin closely matches this timeline.
3:163 minutes, 16 secondsAccording to cover news, Wong went hiking toward the Asia number one viewing platform early on August 26th.
3:223 minutes, 22 secondsHe said that as early as 7:20 a.m., he heard rumbling sounds, which he later realized were the first smaller glacier collapses. He recalled around 10:30 a.m.
3:333 minutes, 33 secondswhile we were hiking, we saw a large-scale glacier collapse in the direction of the Loce Peak area. The collapse lasted about 2 or 3 minutes.
3:413 minutes, 41 secondsThe collapsed area was quickly covered by clouds, making it impossible to see what was happening below, but we could clearly see dust and mist rising into
3:493 minutes, 49 secondsthe air. Early reports from Chinese state media, including Shingua, as well as the Phoenix News, all stated that the
3:563 minutes, 56 secondsmudslide occurred at 10:30 a.m. They generally emphasized that a massive crossber mudslide triggered by a mountain collapse on the Nepal side
4:054 minutes, 5 secondsswept into Giron County, Tibet. However, the main collapse that determined the fate of Gironport occurred at the second
4:124 minutes, 12 secondscritical moment, 10:52 a.m. Beijing time. At that point, the glacier collapse fully erupted. The USGS Global
4:214 minutes, 21 secondsSeismographic Network intense seismic waves. It initially misidentified the event as a natural magnitude 4.4
4:284 minutes, 28 secondsearthquake. Later that afternoon, USGS experts conducted a manual review, ruled out a tectonic earthquake, and
4:364 minutes, 36 secondsofficially revised the event as ground shaking caused by a massive landslide with an energy equivalent to a magnitude
4:444 minutes, 44 seconds5.2 event. About 24 hours after the disaster, USGS released its first scientific report on the event using
4:524 minutes, 52 secondssatellite images from the US LANCAT 9 satellite. The report officially revealed to the world that the disaster originated from a massive high altitude
5:005 minutesglacier collapse on the northern slope of Lantang Ryang Peak. A section of the glacier measuring 0.8 mi wide suddenly
5:085 minutes, 8 secondsfractured and collapsed as a whole. The report was later widely cited by scientists around the world and became one of the most important sources for
5:165 minutes, 16 secondsreconstructing the critical timeline of the mudslide. Based on eyewitness accounts and media reports, we can now reconstruct the disaster's actual
timeline. At 7:20 a.m. that morning, the first smaller glacier collapse occurred.
5:315 minutes, 31 secondsAt 10:21 a.m., the bedrock underneath Lantang Ryang Peak showed the first signs of a precursor rock collapse
5:385 minutes, 38 secondsvisible as dust and smoke rising from the base of the mountain. Milliseconds later, local seismic instruments recorded the first clear ground shaking
5:465 minutes, 46 secondssignal. USGS and Associated Press analysis later found that this was not simply a spontaneous glacier collapse.
5:545 minutes, 54 secondsInstead, the bedrock underneath the glacier first became unstable and partially collapsed. The rockfall struck the valley, generating an impact
6:026 minutes, 2 secondsequivalent to a magnitude 3.8 earthquake. After the rock collapse, large amounts of debris and ice began grinding, scraping, and pushing through
6:106 minutes, 10 secondsearlier glacial deposits deep in the valley. This may explain why some villagers reported seeing sparks through the thick fog. The displaced glacial
6:196 minutes, 19 secondsmaterial entered the river valley, causing a sudden rise in water levels and triggering the first wave of mud flow. This was the scene witnessed by
6:276 minutes, 27 secondsvillagers in Sar Township at around 10:30 a.m. Comparing this timeline with official surveillance footage released
6:346 minutes, 34 secondsfrom Girong Port, the video shows that the mudslide entered the port area at around 10:59 a.m. moving at an estimated
6:416 minutes, 41 secondsspeed of about 164 ft per second. The footage was cut off immediately afterward. Taken together, the evidence
6:496 minutes, 49 secondsshows a sequence from the bedrock collapse at 10:21 a.m. to the glacier collapse at around 10:30 and finally to the debris flow reaching Gironport at
6:586 minutes, 58 seconds10:59. There was a window of roughly 30 to 38 minutes before the initial warning signs and the disaster reaching the port. With modern geological monitoring
7:077 minutes, 7 secondstechnology, a glacier and rock collapse of this scale could potentially be detected through acoustic sensors or remote sensing systems. If monitoring
7:157 minutes, 15 secondsagencies had issued warnings at 10:21 or 10:30, personnel at the bottom of the valley near the port would have had enough time to evacuate toward higher ground along the slopes on both sides.
7:267 minutes, 26 secondsFor Nepal, timely warnings could also have given residents living along the river more opportunities to escape and significantly reduced casualties.
7:357 minutes, 35 secondsHowever, due to failures by relevant Chinese authorities and local officials, the critical evacuation window was missed. The result was that the impact
7:437 minutes, 43 secondsof the disaster was greatly amplified, turning it into a tragedy that took thousands of people. Now, looking at current reports from Chinese state
7:517 minutes, 51 secondsmedia, the reported time of the mudslide was uniformly changed from the earlier 10:30 to 10:52 a.m. More questions were
7:597 minutes, 59 secondsraised when photographer Heyu said on his Doian account that all of his original videos related to the disaster had been removed by the platform. These
8:088 minutes, 8 secondsvaluable raw materials, which had been used by experts for scientific analysis, have now disappeared from the internet.
8:148 minutes, 14 secondsSuch strict control over firstirhand footage inevitably raises questions about whether authorities were attempting to conceal the reality.
8:228 minutes, 22 secondsHowever, no matter how much information is suppressed, the internet can still reveal some clues. According to Mr. Joe, an insider familiar with the emergency
8:318 minutes, 31 secondsresponse system. Relevant authorities in Tibet had already detected abnormal conditions upstream through monitoring system before the disaster and
8:398 minutes, 39 secondsdetermined that the mudslide's path was directly heading towards Girong port.
Mr. Joe said looking at the disaster timeline, authorities in Tibet had already detected the danger before the mudslide reached the port and they
8:528 minutes, 52 secondsdetermined the direction was toward Girong. But officials in Tibet did not take it seriously, resulting in hundreds of people being buried and the customs
9:009 minutesbuilding being destroyed. At the time of the disaster, staff at the local environmental monitoring center made a simple comparison between this event and
9:089 minutes, 8 secondsthe glacial lake outburst flood that struck in 2025. Based on previous experience, they believed the scale of the disaster was manageable. As a
9:179 minutes, 17 secondsresult, they did not raise the warning level, did not urgently report the situation to authorities in Beijing, and did not initiate evacuation procedures.
9:269 minutes, 26 secondsMr. Joe said they waited until the mudslide reached Gironport before reporting it. By then, it was already too late. This was a failure of disaster
9:359 minutes, 35 secondswarning systems, and someone in Tibet will definitely have to take responsibility. In its post- disaster briefing, China's Ministry of Natural
9:439 minutes, 43 secondsResources stated that the disaster was a chain disaster triggered by a high altitude glacier collapse on Lang Riang Peak in Nepal. Tens of millions of cubic
9:529 minutes, 52 secondsmeters of ice fell from above, scraping glacial deposits along the valley and forming a high-speed debris flow that later developed into a mudslide. Its
10:0110 minutes, 1 secondphysical characteristics were completely different from the glacial lake outburst flood that occurred in July 2025. A high
10:0810 minutes, 8 secondsaltitude debris flow has far greater density and destructive force than a conventional flood. Local officials used experience from dealing with ordinary
10:1610 minutes, 16 secondsfloods to respond to a sudden high altitude rock and ice collapse leading to catastrophic consequences.
10:2210 minutes, 22 secondsGansu geological expert Mr. Chen pointed out systemic problems in grassroots emergency management. When monitoring departments detect abnormalities
10:3110 minutes, 31 secondsupstream, they should immediately issue the highest level warning. evacuate people downstream as quickly as possible and only then determine the full scale
10:3910 minutes, 39 secondsof the disaster. The local bureaucrats handle the situation carelessly and used experience from the previous disaster to deal with a new threat. Every time a
10:4810 minutes, 48 secondsdisaster happens, we see the same pattern repeated. So many people were buried. This was caused by human factors. Mr. Chen also cited flooding in
10:5710 minutes, 57 secondsGuangshi as an example, saying similar delays in issuing warnings are widespread across different regions, exposing weaknesses in China's disaster
11:0511 minutes, 5 secondsprevention system. In terms of the official response, authorities did not activate a level two geological disaster emergency response until about 4 and 1/2 hours after the disaster occurred.
11:1511 minutes, 15 secondsBecause the missing people included 261 foreign nationals from more than 20 countries, including 18 Americans, the
11:2211 minutes, 22 secondsincident quickly attracted international attention. Under pressure from foreign embassies in China seeking information, China's top leadership took over the
11:3011 minutes, 30 secondsrescue operation. Premier Lee Chong traveled to the disaster area in Tibet the following day. However, the official Palipo meeting report did not mention
11:3911 minutes, 39 secondsany issue involving delayed reporting by officials. It also didn't explain why after the 2025 disaster, authorities had
11:4611 minutes, 46 secondsnot reassessed the location of the port or establish an effective crossber early warning system. Regarding the deeper causes of the disaster, renowned water
resources expert Dr. Wong Wei Lo conducted a detailed scientific analysis. He said the natural trigger was the ice and rock collapse, but human
12:0312 minutes, 3 secondschanges to the local terrain were a key factor that amplified the destructive impact. In analyzing the natural causes,
12:1112 minutes, 11 secondsWong challenged the Chinese government's single explanation that the disaster was simply caused by a glacier collapse. He
12:1812 minutes, 18 secondscited the view of French geologist Kristen Cook from the University of Grenobyl who said the disaster involved the collapse of both the glacier and the
12:2612 minutes, 26 secondsbedrock beneath it. Long-term global warming has caused glacial retreat and instability across the Tibetan plateau.
12:3312 minutes, 33 secondsWhile the 2015 magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal severely damaged the geological structure of the rock beneath the
12:4012 minutes, 40 secondsglaciers. Over the years, the weakened rock eventually contributed to this massive collapse. Regarding human
12:4712 minutes, 47 secondsfactors, Wong emphasized the impact of engineering activities that altered natural river channels. The key reason the mudslide dealt such a devastating
12:5512 minutes, 55 secondsblow to Gironport was that human activities changed the terrain at the point where the Dolin SO river reaches the Giron SO river. The river channel
13:0313 minutes, 3 secondsbecame narrower, forcing the mud flow to rise higher. During the expansion of Giron Port, efforts to secure more construction space inevitably led to
13:1213 minutes, 12 secondsmodifications of the surrounding environment. At the point where the Doling Sampo flows into the Giron Sampo, the river channel was significantly narrowed due to construction activities.
13:2313 minutes, 23 secondsAccording to fluid dynamics, when tens of millions of cubic meters of debris rushed downstream, the flood waters that would normally spread into surrounding
13:3113 minutes, 31 secondsflood planes and reduce their speed and depth became confined within a narrow artificial channel. The narrower the river channel, the smaller the
13:3913 minutes, 39 secondscross-sectional area available for the debris flow. As a result, the height and speed increase dramatically while its destructive impact on surrounding facilities is amplified exponentially.
13:5013 minutes, 50 secondsAI expert and founder of the Taiwan AI labs, Du Yi Jun, expressed a similar view. Gironport is essentially a large
13:5813 minutes, 58 secondsillegal structure built on a river channel. It compresses the flood passage. When humans compete with rivers for land, nature eventually strikes back
14:0614 minutes, 6 secondsand disaster becomes inevitable. Wi law further pointed out that this type of engineering approach which ignores high
14:1314 minutes, 13 secondsaltitude geological risks is not uncommon across the Tibetan plateau.
14:1814 minutes, 18 secondsProfessor Kung Fong from China Agricultural University also said the region lies along the active Himalayan fault zone where the effects of
14:2614 minutes, 26 secondsearthquake disturbances can have long delays and continue supplying solid material for debris flow for more than a decade. In such a fragile geological
resources expert Dr. Wong Wei Lo conducted a detailed scientific analysis. He said the natural trigger was the ice and rock collapse, but human
12:0312 minutes, 3 secondschanges to the local terrain were a key factor that amplified the destructive impact. In analyzing the natural causes,
12:1112 minutes, 11 secondsWong challenged the Chinese government's single explanation that the disaster was simply caused by a glacier collapse. He
12:1812 minutes, 18 secondscited the view of French geologist Kristen Cook from the University of Grenobyl who said the disaster involved the collapse of both the glacier and the
12:2612 minutes, 26 secondsbedrock beneath it. Long-term global warming has caused glacial retreat and instability across the Tibetan plateau.
12:3312 minutes, 33 secondsWhile the 2015 magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal severely damaged the geological structure of the rock beneath the
12:4012 minutes, 40 secondsglaciers. Over the years, the weakened rock eventually contributed to this massive collapse. Regarding human
12:4712 minutes, 47 secondsfactors, Wong emphasized the impact of engineering activities that altered natural river channels. The key reason the mudslide dealt such a devastating
12:5512 minutes, 55 secondsblow to Gironport was that human activities changed the terrain at the point where the Dolin SO river reaches the Giron SO river. The river channel
13:0313 minutes, 3 secondsbecame narrower, forcing the mud flow to rise higher. During the expansion of Giron Port, efforts to secure more construction space inevitably led to
13:1213 minutes, 12 secondsmodifications of the surrounding environment. At the point where the Doling Sampo flows into the Giron Sampo, the river channel was significantly narrowed due to construction activities.
13:2313 minutes, 23 secondsAccording to fluid dynamics, when tens of millions of cubic meters of debris rushed downstream, the flood waters that would normally spread into surrounding
13:3113 minutes, 31 secondsflood planes and reduce their speed and depth became confined within a narrow artificial channel. The narrower the river channel, the smaller the
13:3913 minutes, 39 secondscross-sectional area available for the debris flow. As a result, the height and speed increase dramatically while its destructive impact on surrounding facilities is amplified exponentially.
13:5013 minutes, 50 secondsAI expert and founder of the Taiwan AI labs, Du Yi Jun, expressed a similar view. Gironport is essentially a large
13:5813 minutes, 58 secondsillegal structure built on a river channel. It compresses the flood passage. When humans compete with rivers for land, nature eventually strikes back
14:0614 minutes, 6 secondsand disaster becomes inevitable. Wi law further pointed out that this type of engineering approach which ignores high
14:1314 minutes, 13 secondsaltitude geological risks is not uncommon across the Tibetan plateau.
14:1814 minutes, 18 secondsProfessor Kung Fong from China Agricultural University also said the region lies along the active Himalayan fault zone where the effects of
14:2614 minutes, 26 secondsearthquake disturbances can have long delays and continue supplying solid material for debris flow for more than a decade. In such a fragile geological
environment, major infrastructure projects including the planned meduk hydro power project on the lower reaches of the yarlong sampo also face extremely
14:4514 minutes, 45 secondshigh risks from rock and ice collapses and debris flows. Tibetan writer Saniel Gatso warned as early as 2018 that
14:5314 minutes, 53 secondslarge-scale construction of reservoirs, hydropower stations, and mining activities in the region could significantly increase geological disaster risks and threaten the
15:0215 minutes, 2 secondsstability of the Asian water tower. This crossber mudslide not only destroyed Gironport but also caused major
15:0915 minutes, 9 secondscasualties downstream in Nepal. The disaster has triggered criticism and frustration among Nepalese scholars and media over the lack of substantial cooperation between the two countries.
15:1915 minutes, 19 secondsDr. Basanta Raj Adikari, a disaster research expert at Tripavan University in Nepal publicly called for stronger
15:2715 minutes, 27 secondsinformation sharing and early warning systems between the two countries.
15:3115 minutes, 31 secondsAccording to an investigation by Reuters, Nepal had actively sought cooperation with China on disaster monitoring three months before the
15:3915 minutes, 39 secondsdisaster occurred. On May 27th, Chinese and Nepalese officials held a meeting in Cathmandeue. Nepal proposed
15:4615 minutes, 46 secondsstrengthening cooperation on monitoring floods, weather conditions, and glacier related disasters. It also called for joint risk reduction measures, including
15:5515 minutes, 55 secondsa shared survey of glacial lakes and the creation of disaster risk maps. However, Nepalese hydrarology expert Binad Pajuli
16:0416 minutes, 4 secondsrevealed that Chinese representatives said they had not yet received authorization to sign a cooperation agreement. They only suggested further
16:1216 minutes, 12 secondsdiscussions, causing the cooperation plan to stall. Nepal news reported that Nepal lacks a dense real-time monitoring
16:1916 minutes, 19 secondsnetwork in its northern high altitude glacial lake regions and can only rely on periodic satellite surveys. The 2025
16:2716 minutes, 27 secondsflood disaster had already shown that the river valley was a high-risisk area, but progress on early warning infrastructure remained slow. The report
16:3516 minutes, 35 secondssuggested that if both sides had reached a cooperation agreement, one year would have been enough to install a basic sensor network upstream. Professor Kung
16:4316 minutes, 43 secondsFang from China Agricultural University also acknowledged that a major challenge in crossber debris flow warnings is that the disaster source is located outside
16:5216 minutes, 52 secondsthe country making it difficult to deploy groundbased monitoring equipment.
16:5716 minutes, 57 secondsChina's foreign ministry responded that it had always shared relevant hydraological data in a timely manner and assisted Nepal with disaster
17:0417 minutes, 4 secondsprevention. However, Reuters review found that China's latest warning data sent to Nepal was on August 14th,
17:1217 minutes, 12 secondsconsisting of a routine monsoon rainfall forecast based on weather models. There was a clear difference in both timing and nature between that forecast and the
17:2017 minutes, 20 secondssudden ice and rock collapse. Regarding data sharing, Dr. Wong Lo said China currently has the technological capability to monitor glaciers across
17:2917 minutes, 29 secondsthe Tibetan plateau. He pointed out that Chinese researchers have even mapped the distribution of hidden rock glaciers across the plateau. He believes one
17:3817 minutes, 38 secondsreason an effective warning system has not been established is that hydraological and meteorological data can sometimes become politicized. He
said if Nepal's relationship with the authorities is good, China may provide more data. But if policies change, data sharing can also be affected. Indian
17:5517 minutes, 55 secondsstrategic scholar Brahma Chaleni also pointed out that Nepal has long sought to establish a bilateral early warning agreement with China but has failed to
18:0318 minutes, 3 secondscreate a formal information sharing mechanism similar to the one they have with India as climate change increases the risk of crossber geological
18:1218 minutes, 12 secondsdisasters. The lack of transparent and real-time data sharing could leave billions of people across the Himalayas facing greater safety risks.
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