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Glacier lakes swollen by global warming threaten millions

The Japan Times · last updated

Violent flooding from glacier lakes formed or enlarged by climate change threatens at least 15 million people worldwide, most of them in four countries, researchers said on Tuesday.

More than 9 million people across so-called High Mountain Asia live in the path of potential glacial lake outburst floods, including 5 million in northern India and Pakistan, they reported in Nature Communications. China and Peru are also especially exposed to the danger of abrupt flooding from melting glaciers, according to the study, the first global assessment of areas most at risk.

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