The film of the catastrophic flash flood in Nepal is horrific, and the likely casualty rate is likely to be high, so many people are still unaccounted for. The immediacy of the films brings home the casual brutality of Nature, and the ease with which a whole way of life can be brushed aside in moments. But this is a disaster in Nepal, a far distant country from my placid residence next to the Med in Castelldefels.
That ‘distance’ was obliterated when I greeted a friend after completing my morning swim. I asked after his ‘aches and pains’ as he has been having muscular trouble, but he rejected my questions and asked if I had seen the film of the flood. I told him I had and he then told me that this was a place he knew. He had worked there, he knew people who lived there, he had seen pictures of a building that had been his administrative centre being destroyed in images that he had been sent which had not been seen on TV.
Suddenly, a distant disaster was humanized and localized, I was speaking to someone who had knowledge of and a stake in what had been lost.
Life goes on. He was, after all, preparing to have a swim, as he does most days, but his mind was not centred on getting a good lane in the pool to himself. It was a long way away.
This event has forced my mind back to something more local, the Valencia DANA (Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos), an isolated high-impact depression, which is a meteorological phenomenon characterized by extreme weather events, particularly in regions like the Mediterranean Sea basin.
An abstract from a report by members of the University of Valencia sums up the disaster:
The unprecedented DANA floods that struck Valencia, Spain on October 29, 2024, caused catastrophic human, economic, and ecological damages, resulting in 223 fatalities, the displacement of 15,000 residents, and long-term health and environmental consequences and incurred financial losses estimated over 50 billion euros. Vulnerabilities in urban planning, ambiguous command and control oversight, delayed warnings, and insufficient preparedness underscored systemic gaps in the flood preparedness and management.
The key concepts are found in the last sentence, and the apportioning of blame is ongoing. The President of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, was widely condemned for his lack of urgency in the early stages of the disaster, but he took over a year ignoring repeated calls for him to go, for him finally to resign.
In the immediate aftermath of a disaster attention is rightly focussed on rescue and reconstruction. But almost as important are the efforts made to understand exactly what occurred, and how the disaster was dealt with, in other words, looking for lessons to try and ensure that the disaster is not repeated.
In the case of the DANA in Valencia, politics and self-interest have complicated the issues. In extraordinary scenes on November 3rd, a few days after the tragedy, the King and Queen of Spain, accompanied by high-ranking officials were pelted with mud and met with cries of “Murderers!” when they visited Paiporta, one of the municipalities worst affected by the floods.
In May in 2025 a delegation of family member victims of the DANA went to the EU in Brussels to demand truth, justice and accountability as they felt that the response of the administration in Valencia and in Madrid had been wholly inadequate. They stressed that they were there, “not for revenge, but for truth and justice.” One of their leaders said, “We are not here out of pity. We are here because we have the right to know why our children, parents, siblings died, and to know who had the duty to protect them and failed.”
In the Grenfell tower disaster, I am reminded of Conservative peer, Lord Pickles, who, when he was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, his department was directly responsible for housing policy, building regulation and fire safety guidance. In Cameron’s government, Pickles enthusiastically championed a “one in, one out” (and later “one in, two out”) rule to slash building regulations and bureaucracy, thus compromising officials from tightening laws on combustible building materials.
While he was being questioned, giving evidence in the Inquiry, he suggested that the Inquiry’s senior counsel should speed up his questioning because had had important afternoon meetings planned. An astonishing piece of disrespect, though a revealing insight into his assumed importance.
The final report of the inquiry he was heavily criticized. He is still a member of the House of Lords and The Conservative Party.
Too often there is no real end to a disaster. Lives are lost, destruction is widespread and things are never really the same again. And to make matters worse, the follow up in trying to understand what happened and why is too often muddied by politics, money and self-interest.
The probable cause of the flash flood in Nepal was the lower part of a Himalayan glacier breaking off and crashing hundreds of meters onto the valley floor. The massive impact generated ground energy equivalent to a 5.2-magnitude earthquake. As the giant cascade of ice, mud, and rock raced down the steep valley, friction heating melted large volumes of the ice into water. The debris temporarily blocked local rivers creating an intense buildup of water and sediment that catastrophically burst downstream as a high-speed flash flood.
Why this happened may well include the fact that the event coincided with the monsoon season, meaning surrounding sediment and soil were already waterlogged and easily swept up. Climate change means that the rising temperatures in the Himalayan region can destabilize glaciers and weaken mountain rock, leading to such extreme ice avalanches.
Explanation. Reconstruction. Prevention. Easy words to type, it remains to be seen how the authorities and the world respond.
