While earthquakes have often been blamed for rock failures and landslides on mountain slopes, scientists also point at global temperature rises for rapid thawing of snowfields and glacial melt that can disturb the flow of snow-fed rivers.

BBC: Nepal floods change river course and threaten tourism

"But, ' adds Mel Reasoner, Director of the Mountain Research Initiative, "in many arid and semi-arid areas, people are dependent not only on the amount of glacier melt water, but on the timing of the water flow.

UNESCO: 83e

The flow in the Mekong comes mainly from rainfall and some snow melt, not melting ice.

ECONOMIST: Letters