Online claims that Chinese construction on the Himalayan border triggered an avalanche, causing floods in China and Nepal
After the disaster, social media circulated claims that China's building of border "moderately prosperous villages" (xiaokang villages) in high Himalayan regions and mountain-cutting and slope-slicing projects near Gyirong damaged the ecology, triggered an avalanche and caused flash floods. An account focusing on investigative reporting in Nepal, Nepal Correspondence, called this a "deliberate ecological disaster"; there is no solid evidence to confirm it. Meanwhile, disaster videos within China were quickly deleted.