A WEEK AFTER it struck, it was still hard to gauge(估量，判断) the extent of the catastrophe that hit the Himalayas on August 26th. But it is at least possible to be fairly precise about how it started: at 8.37am a collapsing glacier and ice-rock avalanche crashed down and dammed the Lhende river at the border between Nepal and Tibet.(但至少可以相当准确地描述它是如何开始的：上午8点37分，一座崩塌的冰川和冰岩雪崩轰然坠落，堵塞了尼泊尔与西藏边境的兰德河。) Three minutes later the dam breach(决口，突破)ed, releasing a fury of(一阵猛烈的) water, rock, mud and ice down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers of Nepal’s Rasuwa region. Shibu Giri saw a wave raze(夷为平地) an entire bridge. Just before it tossed up his lorry, he dart(猛冲，飞奔)ed for the forest. After sleeping in a cave, he was lifted to safety by an army helicopter the next day. Many were less lucky; the flash floods swallowed some villages entirely.(许多人则没那么幸运；山洪将一些村庄完全吞没。)
灾难发生一周后，人们仍难以估量8月26日袭击喜马拉雅山区的这场灾难的严重程度。但至少可以相当准确地描述它是如何开始的：上午8点37分，一座崩塌的冰川和冰岩雪崩轰然坠落，堵塞了尼泊尔与西藏边境的兰德河。三分钟后，堰塞坝决口，洪水裹挟着岩石、泥沙和冰块，沿着尼泊尔拉苏瓦地区的博特科西河与特里苏里河倾泻而下。希布·吉里亲眼目睹巨浪摧毁了一座整座桥梁。就在洪水掀翻他的卡车之前，他冲进了森林。在山洞里过了一夜后，第二天他被军用直升机救至安全地带。许多人则没那么幸运；山洪将一些村庄完全吞没。
A week later more than 1,000 people were known to have died and more than 4,000 were missing(失踪的). They included several hundred foreigners, among them busloads of Hindu pilgrims en route to(在前往……的途中) Kailash(冈仁波齐峰，西藏圣山), a holy mountain in Tibet. Some 80 bridges and 40km of road were wiped out. The loss of 14 hydropower plants, some still under construction, knocked out 10% of Nepal’s power generation.(14座水电站（其中一些仍在建设中）的损毁，导致尼泊尔10%的发电能力丧失。)
一周后，已知死亡人数超过1000人，另有4000多人失踪。其中包括数百名外国人，其中有成车的印度教朝圣者，他们正前往西藏的圣山冈仁波齐。约80座桥梁和40公里道路被摧毁。14座水电站（其中一些仍在建设中）的损毁，导致尼泊尔10%的发电能力丧失。
Nepal sits where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates(地壳板块) collide(碰撞，冲突) and the hot monsoon breeze meets the Himalayas’ icy winds and shaky slopes. That makes it one of the most disaster-prone(易受灾的) places on Earth. Its region is heating faster than the rest of Earth, its glaciers melting twice as quickly as they did in 2000. So in the years ahead more glaciers will collapse and more lakes are likely to burst their banks(决堤，漫过河岸).
尼泊尔地处印度板块与欧亚板块碰撞地带，也是炎热季风与喜马拉雅冰冷气流和松散坡地交汇之处。这使它成为地球上最易受灾的地区之一。该地区升温速度快于地球其他地区，冰川融化速度是2000年的两倍。因此，未来几年将有更多冰川崩塌，更多湖泊可能决堤。