The 2014 Nepal snowstorm disaster occurred in central Nepal on 14 October 2014 and resulted in the deaths of at least 43 people of various nationalities, including at least 21 trekkers. Injuries and fatalities resulted from unusually severe

snowstorm A winter storm (also known as snow storm) is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, Rain and snow mixed, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In Continental cl ...

s and

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

s on and around the mountains of

Annapurna Annapurna (; ) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the 10th highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficulty and danger involved in its as ...

and

Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri, located in Nepal, is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country. It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapur ...

. The incident was said to be Nepal's worst trekking disaster.

Events

On 14 October 2014, a snowstorm and series of avalanches occurred on and around

and

in the

Manang Manang () is a town in the Manang District of Nepal. It is located at 28°40'0N 84°1'0E with an elevation of . According to the preliminary results of the 2011 Nepal census, the district has a population of 6,527 people living in 1,495 individua ...

and

Mustang District Mustang District ( ) (from the Standard Tibetan, Tibetan ''möntang'' (), "fertile plain") is one of the eleven districts of Gandaki Province and one of List of districts of Nepal, seventy-seven districts of Nepal which was a Kingdom of Lo-Mant ...

s of

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

within the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

range. According to an unnamed expert the storm arose from Cyclone Hudhud and was the worst in a decade with almost of snow falling within 12 hours. The storm resulted from the unusual merger of a tropical cyclone with an upper trough. Electric power, cell phone service, and internet connections failed in the

District, hampering relief efforts. Trekkers in the area at the time of the storm consisted of citizens from several countries, including 78 from New Zealand. One of the first calls for international assistance was raised by the Israeli embassy in

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

after trapped tourists sent a hand-written note from the top of the pass with a local guide who descended the mountain. Twenty-one trekkers and guides from Nepal, Slovakia, and Germany were rescued on 15 October after the avalanche the previous day. When search and rescue operations ceased on 19 October, up to 400 people had been rescued from various areas including Thorong La, the

and

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...

areas, and the

Tukuche Tukuche, sometimes spelt Tukche, is a village development committee in Mustang District in the Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepa ...

basecamp Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

. The storms resulted in the deaths of at least 43 people. Among the dead were 21 trekkers from several countries walking the

Annapurna Circuit The Annapurna Circuit is a trekking, trek within the mountain ranges of central Nepal. The total length of the route varies between 160–230 km (100-145 mi), depending on where motor transportation is used and where the trek is ende ...

, including two Slovak climbers at Dhaulagiri base camp, and several local Nepali mountain guides, cooks, and yak herders. Up to 50 people were estimated to be missing with 175 reported to have injuries such as severe

frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when someone is exposed to extremely low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occ ...

Legacy

Local authorities were criticised for not giving sufficient warning of approaching bad weather to the trekkers and local residents. However, some officials believe that those killed or injured were inexperienced and inadequately equipped. The

Prime Minister of Nepal The prime minister of Nepal (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of Nepal. The prime minister leads the Council of Ministers of Nepal, Council of Ministers and holds the chief executive authority in the country. They must maintain ...

Sushil Koirala Sushil Prasad Koirala (; 12 August 1931 – 9 February 2016) was a Nepalese politician and the Prime Minister of Nepal from 11 February 2014 to 10 October 2015. He was also President of the Nepali Congress from 2010 to 2016, having earlier ser ...

called the loss of life “extremely tragic at a time when worldwide weather updates are available every second”, and said that weather warning systems would be improved. The Nepal Tourism Ministry said that the incident "has taught us a lesson”, and that more emergency shelters and better weather tracking and communication were needed to avert future tragedies. Newly proposed procedures and regulations include a trekker registry, checkpoints,

GPS tracking unit A GPS tracking unit, geotracking unit, satellite tracking unit, or simply tracker is a navigation device normally on a vehicle, asset, person or animal that uses satellite navigation to determine its movement and determine its WGS84 UTM ...

s and mandatory use of trained local guides. However, regulations at the time required trekkers to check in at various waypoints and licensed guides were already recommended. There was no system in place at the time to inform trekkers of weather conditions en route.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nepal snowstorm disaster 2014 10 2014 natural disasters Nepal 2014 Snowstorm disaster 2014 Mountaineering disasters 2014 meteorology Snowstorm disaster 2014 Snowstorm disaster 2014 October 2014 in Asia 2014 disasters in Nepal

Events

Legacy

See also

References