"Risk of Deadly Floods Like Nepal"... Peru Warns of Glacial Lake Outbursts

The fear of the catastrophic floods in Nepal has gripped South America, particularly centering around the Andes region.

Amid warnings that Peru, Chile, and Argentina are exposed to destructive floods and landslides, concerns have been raised in Peru in particular that a disaster similar to the massive floods in Nepal could strike soon.

According to the findings of a research institute in Peru, 528 glacial lakes in the country are at risk of overflowing.

Among them, 58 locations have been identified as being at very high risk.

[Paola Moschella / Research Director, National Institute of Glaciers: The devastating floods in Nepal are a large-scale displacement phenomenon of glacial origin. This situation also appears in Peru. Both the Andes and the Himalayas share the common characteristic of having numerous glaciers with populations living around them.]

In particular, high-altitude glaciers are melting increasingly, significantly raising the water levels of the lakes.

Among them, Lake Palcacocha in the west is cited as the most dangerous area.

[Paola Moschella / Research Director, National Institute of Glaciers: Based on our study of the characteristics of this lake and its surrounding environment, as well as simulations of the lake overflowing due to an avalanche, we found that approximately 27,407 people could be exposed to flood risks.]

In fact, Peru has experienced the deadliest disaster in history caused by glaciers.

In 1970, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake triggered a glacial avalanche, and about half of the more than 50,000 earthquake victims died from the avalanche.

[Benjamin Morales / Geotechnical Engineer: Peru is the country that has suffered the most disasters caused by glacial collapses. There is no country that has experienced more such disasters than Peru.]

While the Peruvian government is deploying satellite monitoring and hydrological sensors to establish an early warning system, critics point out that existing disaster prevention infrastructure is severely inadequate to handle the speed and scale of a collapse.

(Video Editing: Oh Jung-shik)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.