What the China-Nepal floods teach us about crisis communication

The Himalayan disaster that tore through the China-Nepal border last month was a human calamity before it became a media story.

A torrent of ice, rock, mud and debris swept through valleys, destroying key infrastructure, severing roads and communications, and leaving families desperate for news.

In Gyirong county in the Tibet autonomous region, the disaster hit a major border crossing and created a rescue environment as physically difficult as any imaginable. The human toll extends beyond the...