KATHMANDU, AUGUST 28 Climate change may increase the vulnerability of Himalayan regions to secondary hazards following major earthquakes, but there is currently no scientific evidence linking climate change directly to the recent disaster in Tibet and Nepal, according to a City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) expert. Professor Benjamin Horton, dean and chair professor at CityUHK's School of Energy and Environment, said it was too early to conclude that the disaster was a direct result of climate change. He said earthquakes are geological events caused by tectonic processes, while rising temperatures are contributing to glacier retreat, permafrost thaw and reduced snow and ice cover across the Himalayas. These changes can destabilise mountain slopes and increase the risks of landslides, rockfalls and glacial lake outburst floods. Scientists are also examining whether ice-mass loss could influence stress distribution within the Earth's crust, but the relationship between climate change and earthquake occurrence remains uncertain, Horton said. He described the disaster as potentially a 'compound event', in which an earthquake interacts with climate-driven factors such as glacier retreat, permafrost thaw and slope instability, creating cascading impacts. Horton said understanding such interactions would be crucial to improving disaster-risk assessments and strengthening resilience in high-mountain regions.