The devastating Nepal floods highlighted the danger of glaciers. Here's where the next disaster may occur.

The massive Nepal-Tibet flood on Aug. 26 showed just how devastating glacier-related disasters can be. As of Sept. 16, the event killed at least 1,400 people , with more than 6,000 people still missing.

The Himalayas, with their steep slopes studded with rapidly melting glaciers, are high risk, but areas across much of the world carry the risk of glacier-related disasters, including one tropical region that is at particular risk, experts told Live Science.

"Slope failure from glacier shrinkage is occurring everywhere," Mark Carey , a professor of environmental studies and geography and director of The Glacier Lab at the University of Oregon, told Live Science in an email.

The recent Nepal-Tibet disaster unfolded when a large mass of bedrock and glacial ice detached from the mountainside. The ice and rock accelerated rapidly, reaching speeds of 500 feet per second (150 meters per second) as it dropped 6,500 feet (2,000 meters) directly into the Lhende River in Tibet, according to the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, D.C.

The rock, ice and water that then raced rapidly downstream eroded the riverbanks and collected debris and water along the way.

Carey noted that this disaster was exacerbated by a combination of factors.

"This particular event in Nepal- China was so profound because of the scale of the landslide, the quantity of water in the flood, the speed of the flood, and the number of people, communities, public works/infrastructure in the flood path," he said. "There was also little warning."

The Himalayas and the wider High Mountains Asia — an area that includes parts of China, Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan — are among the major epicenters for future glacier-related disasters, experts said. More than 9 million people in this region are at risk from glacial outbursts — when a lake bursts through or overtops its dam and drains rapidly — a 2023 Nature study found.