"Judged to be Far Away and Have Little Impact," But Predictions Missed the Mark

[Anchor]

The developer of the hydroelectric power plant in Nepal struck by a massive flood had assessed that a glacial lake posed little risk because it was relatively far away. However, expectations fell short against the unimaginable power of the flood.

Reporter Choi Seung-hun has the story.

[Reporter]

This is the diversion dam facility of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric power plant in the Rasuwa district of Nepal, filmed before the flood struck.

It is a core facility of the power plant that blocks river water and channels it into the underground tunnel entrance, and it is estimated that about 90% of it was destroyed in this flood.

This is a disaster management plan drawn up in 2018 by Nepal Water and Energy Development Company, the local project corporation in which Korea South-East Power is the largest shareholder.

It cited floods caused by the collapse of glacial lakes as a major natural disaster in Nepal.

It also warned of the danger of floods crossing the border, stating that half of the Trishuli River basin is in China, making it difficult to monitor.

However, because the glacial lake was located 30 to 60 kilometers away from the dam facility, it was expected that even when the flood was at its most violent, its impact would be significantly diminished by the time it reached the site.

At the same time, it was judged that it would not affect the scale of the monsoon flood reflected in the design.

This assessment continued in the results of a supplementary environmental impact assessment conducted by the same company in June of last year.

However, in July of last year, a flood occurred when water from a lake on the mountain formed by melting glaciers burst out all at once, damaging some facilities under construction.

Doosan Enerbility, the construction contractor, reinforced landslide and flood warning systems upstream and conducted evacuation drills twice this year as well.

Korea South-East Power also visited Nepal several times starting in October of last year to inspect the site conditions.

However, with the water level of the downstream river soaring up to a maximum of 9 meters in just 30 minutes, the construction site suffered massive blows from the flood that rushed down leaving no time to escape.

[Hwang Seok-hwan / Research Fellow, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology : It can be said that the glacial lake burst again, and as those waters went downstream, they triggered further landslides and debris flows, exceeding the measures that had been established to a certain extent.]

Opinions are emerging that a new double and triple warning system utilizing satellites and other technologies is needed, going beyond the concepts of existing manuals.

[Video Editing: Won Hyung-hee, Design: Jang Seong-beom]
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.