Hundreds of millions of people could be exposed to natural disasters and a water security crisis due to melting glaciers in Asia, academics have warned as Nepal and Tibet reel from devastating floods that have killed more than 600 people.

A glacier collapse in the Himalayas on Wednesday is believed to have caused the floods that tore through mountain villages and valleys on Wednesday, destroying infrastructure and leaving nearly 2,000 people missing.

David Simon, professor of development geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, warned that natural disasters of this scale are likely to continue as climate change brings more intense summers to the continent.

As glaciers retreat and more “catastrophic breakoffs” occur, water reservoirs held in the ice will diminish, with “stark” longer-term consequences for the rivers that nourish South Asia and parts of Central Asia an...