India, Aug. 27 -- Extreme precipitation in the Himalayan district of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand on August 5 triggered a series of flash floods in Dharali (near Harsil) and at an army camp in Harsil. Preliminary investigations suggest heavy rainfall as the cause, though the involvement of a cloudburst - an enormous amount of precipitation in a short period of time - or other triggers remains under evaluation by experts. This is not the first such event this monsoon. The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region has already experienced multiple disasters, The village of Til in Limi Valley, Nepal, witnessed a devastating flood on May 15, followed by a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in the Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi river basin on July 8, among others. More recently, on August 14, the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir was struck by severe flash floods after unprecedented cloudbursts and sustained heavy rainfall. Entire villages along the Chenab River basin were inundated, dozens of people lost their lives and many more were displaced, with bridges, roads, and hydropower facilities washed away. On Tuesday (August 26), a monsoon-triggered landslide on the route to the Vaishno Devi shrine killed five. These disasters again highlight the vulnerability of Himalayan districts to compound hazards, where extreme precipitation interacts with fragile mountain slopes and infrastructure development in flood-prone valleys. These events underscore the need for a comprehensive multi-hazard risk assessment (MHRA) framework in the region, one that considers not just individual hazards in isolation but the complex interactions among them. The HKH is increasingly experiencing compound and cascading hazards, such as heavy rainfall triggering landslides that then breach glacial lakes, or permafrost thaw combining with snowmelt to exacerbate slope instability. A siloed approach to risk no longer suffices. HKH glaciers are retreating at alarming rates. This rapid melting is altering runoff patterns in the HKH rivers and is contributing to the formation and expansion of proglacial lakes, unstable water bodies that have become "cryospheric time bombs" in such fragile settings. These lakes are prone to sudden and catastrophic outbursts, triggered by landslides, earthquakes, heavy rainfall, or snow avalanches. A stark example is the disaster which occurred in Sikkim on October 3, 2023. This was not a simple GLOF but a complex, cascading event that began with a permafrost landslide into South Lhonak Lake. It highlights the overlooked but critical role of permafrost in the HKH. While permafrost has been extensively studied in the Arctic region, its thawing in the HKH has only recently drawn attention. Permafrost thaw can destabilise mountain slopes, cause landslides, and may trigger disasters like those in Chamoli, India (2021) or Til, Nepal (2025). While global and regional warming are evident, extreme weather events are also becoming more frequent and intense in the HKH region. The Leh cloudburst in 2010, the Kedarnath tragedy in 2013, the Melamchi flood in 2021, and the recent Uttarkashi incident, all stem from heavy precipitation. In 2022, Pakistan's floods, induced by intense monsoon rains, were worsened by snow and glacier melt driven by a continent-wide heatwave. Nature is sending us repeated and increasingly urgent warnings through the rise in complex mountain disasters each year. To respond effectively, we must dramatically enhance monitoring of our fragile cryosphere systems, glaciers, snow, and permafrost. While models exist to simulate these events, their accuracy depends entirely on the quality of input data. Unfortunately, the HKH region suffers from a severe shortage of in-situ observations. To build effective early warning systems and hazard mitigation strategies, we urgently need greater investment in high-altitude field data collection, including glacier mass balance measurements, meteorological records, and detailed bathymetric surveys to accurately estimate lake volumes. Glacier-related disasters are rarely isolated, they are often cascading and transboundary, affecting multiple countries. This calls for stronger regional cooperation, data sharing, and coordinated disaster response across the HKH. A hazard becomes a disaster only when it impacts people or infrastructure. Therefore, scientifically informed planning of human settlements and infrastructure development is critical, especially in fragile HKH environments. Integrating MHRA frameworks into infrastructure development planning can help identify overlapping hazard zones and their dynamic interactions - guiding decision-makers to design for resilience. We need strict, enforceable policies that are grounded in careful scientific assessments. One key step could be the development of a cryospheric hazard zonation map, much like earthquake or landslide zonation mapping, to guide where and how development should occur in glaciated and high-altitude regions, especially where there is a community or critical infrastructure downstream. Finally, deploying early warning systems in high-risk zones and strengthening community preparedness through training and mock drills can save lives. Even a few minutes of warning can make a difference between life and death. We know what needs to be done. The challenge now is to act, before the next reminder turns into the report of yet another tragedy....