US Earthquake Monitor Clarifies Nepal "Quake" Was 'Powerful Landslide'

On 26 August 2026, a US earthquake monitor said the event behind deadly flash floods in Nepal was a powerful landslide, a glacier collapse, and not an earthquake. Scientists cited by the New York Times said the flood may have started with an ice-rock avalanche, with a mass of ice that fell about one kilometer. The Wall Street Journal put the toll at 157 dead and hundreds missing, with floods in Nepal and Tibet. The BBC said dozens of US and Canadian citizens were missing.