Nepal-China’s Engineered Valley Under Scrutiny

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Nepal’s mountain disaster did not happen in untouched wilderness. The collapse struck above one of the country’s most heavily engineered river corridors—an area packed with hydropower plants, tunnels, roads, underground powerhouses and major construction projects.
Eyewitness videos showed heavy construction activity in the area shortly before the disaster. A photographer also captured an unusual mist-like cloud in the mountains before the main collapse.
In this program, we examine how years of excavation, blasting and infrastructure development transformed the valley below the collapse zone—and why researchers had already warned that roads and hydropower construction could increase landslide risk in earthquake-damaged terrain.
The bigger question is this: Was the infrastructure simply destroyed by the disaster, or did human development also influence how the disaster unfolded?

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