Conspiracy theorists falsely blame HAARP for deadly Nepal-Tibet floods

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said a glacial collapse caused the flash floods that swept through Nepal and Tibet in late August 2026, engulfing entire villages and killing hundreds. However, conspiracy theorists on social media quickly pinned the torrent on an Alaskan research project instead, claiming the deadly wall of water and debris was a "man-made disaster." AFP has repeatedly debunked claims that the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is to blame for extreme weather events, and scientists say manipulation cannot cause floods of this magnitude -- instead pointing to human-caused global warming.

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Similarly conspiratorial claims spread elsewhere on X and other platforms, including  Rumble , Instagram and Facebook . Some speculated about the geopolitical and corporate motives behind the disaster.

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HAARP is a research station that uses the world's most powerful high-frequency transmitter to study activity in the highest regions of the atmosphere (archived here ). The University of Alaska Fairbanks has operated the program since 2015, when it was transferred from the US Air Force. The project is a common target for conspiracy theories, and AFP has repeatedly  debunked  online  claims that HAARP is  manipulating the weather and causing disasters such as  earthquakes and  wildfires .

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While more research is needed , Cook said it is possible that part of a mountain near the Nepal-Tibet border collapsed, causing a glacier to react to the bedrock's sliding. "There is a long period of small changes that make the mountain or glacier more and more unstable, and then it only takes something small to cross a tipping point," she said.

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