New Delhi, Sept. 3 -- When a wall of water, rocks and mud tore through her remote village in Nepal last week, Pema Tamang and her neighbors fled uphill to a Buddhist shrine that had been rebuilt the previous year after a 2015 earthquake.

The steep mountain folds of the Himalayas, already prone to earthquakes, have seen more frequent flash floods as high mountain glaciers melt, redrawing rivers at sometimes terrifying speed. Residents have had little time to rebuild from one disaster to the next, raising concerns over whether their communities can endure as climate change accelerates.

"We were able to rebuild the stupa only last year after it was destroyed during the earthquake," Tamang told The Associated Press, referring to the shrine....