Bhutan is a mountainous country, where mountains and hills occupy most of the land. Out of the 2,400 km long Himalayan range, the Bhutan Himalayas extend up to 340 km. The country is vulnerable to various hazards due to fragile geological conditions, great elevation differences, and steep sloping terrain. Apart from landslides and river erosion, the mountainous region is also quite susceptible to disastrous hazards due to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). The glaciers, some of which consist of a huge amount of perpetual snow and ice, create many glacial lakes. Most of these lakes are located in the down valleys close to the glaciers.

677 glaciers and 2,794 glacier lakes in the Bhutan Himalayas (ICIMOD & DGM, 2001)