August 2026: a glacier collapse flooded the Nepal–Tibet border. Here is how to actually help.
A sudden Himalayan glacier and moraine failure sent a wall of water down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli systems, destroying bridges, highways and whole riverside settlements. A new barrier lake upstream is still filling. This hub collects verified ways to give, find people, and stay out of the next surge.
- 392+
- Confirmed dead (Nepal & Tibet), Aug 2026
- ~1,300
- Reported missing as of 28 Aug 2026
- 1 lake
- Barrier lake still filling upstream (2026)
- 26 Aug 2026
- Date of the glacier collapse surge
Figures from public reporting on 27–28 August 2026 and rising. Search of the debris fields is ongoing, and hundreds of foreign trekkers remain unaccounted for.
Start here
How to use this site — and what to do about the situation right now
This site is informational only. It does not take donations, ship goods or contact anyone on your behalf. It tells you what to do, in what order, depending on who you are.
If you are downstream right now
Do this first
If you want to help from anywhere
Give cash, not goods
If you can send physical supplies
Supply chain page
If you decide or influence policy
Action plan page
The incident · 2026
What happened, in pictures and footage
Visual context for the 26 August 2026 Himalayan flood. The images below are illustrations drawn from public reporting — they are not photographs taken at the site. For real footage, use the verified sources listed underneath.
The valley after the surge — 26 August 2026
Bhote Koshi / Trishuli corridor: swollen silt-laden river, collapsed suspension bridge, riverside houses and terraces stripped. Illustration based on public reporting, not a photograph from the site.
Response and access — late August 2026
With the Pasang Lhamu highway cut, helicopters and porter teams carry search crews, tents and medical kit into settlements that trucks cannot reach. Illustration, not a photograph.
What is still upstream (2026)
A landslide-formed barrier lake continues to fill behind unstable debris. If it breaches, a second surge follows the same valley. Schematic illustration.
Video and live sources
This site does not host or verify third-party footage. Check the date and outlet before sharing anything — old flood clips are widely recirculated as new during every event.
Please note: this website does not accept or collect any donations — it is informational only. The links below go directly to independent organisations; always verify them yourself before giving.
Give
Verified organisations working in the affected districts
Unrestricted cash to responders already on the ground beats shipped goods every time — air and road capacity into these valleys is the binding constraint.
What's needed
Priority needs right now
If you are a company, foundation or technical volunteer, these are the gaps aid agencies are naming.
Search & rescue
Clean water
Shelter
Trauma & mental health
Connectivity
Cash transfers
Missing people
Finding someone
Hundreds of residents and trekkers are unaccounted for across Langtang, Rasuwa and the Tibetan side of the border.
Your embassy in Kathmandu
For foreign nationals
Stay alive
Safety guidance for people downstream
The immediate flood is over; the secondary hazards are not. A barrier lake formed by landslide debris can fail without warning.
- 1Treat the upstream barrier lake as an active threat: if you are in a valley below the surge zone, sleep on high ground.
- 2Move at least 30 vertical metres above the river, not just away from the bank — GLOF surges climb valley walls.
- 3Do not cross damaged suspension bridges or fresh debris fans; both fail under load hours after a flood.
- 4Boil or chlorinate all water. Post-flood diarrhoeal disease kills more people than the flood in many events.
- 5Register missing relatives with Nepal Police and the Red Cross Restoring Family Links service rather than only on social media.
- 6Avoid travelling to affected districts to volunteer unless you are with a requested, self-sufficient team — untrained arrivals consume scarce food and transport.
Next
This will happen again unless flood risk is managed differently
Warming has produced thousands of unstable glacial lakes across the Himalaya, Andes, Alps, Caucasus and Central Asia. See the step-by-step national playbook and what actually works.