The response to catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border a week ago has turned to relief and recovery, even as rescuers scramble to reach anyone who may be alive.
The priority now is delivering aid, recovering loved ones, tracing missing relatives and reunifying separated children, the UN’s humanitarian agency says.
At least 1,114 people have died in Nepal and nearly 4,000 more are missing, according to Nepal’s disaster agency. On the Tibetan side, the death toll is 16, with more than 500 people unaccounted for, Chinese state media report.
Efforts are continuing to rescue workers, potentially in the hundreds, believed to be trapped in Nepalese hydropower tunnels.
A massive flash flood, believed to have been triggered by a glacial collapse, swept through a Himalayan valley last Wednesday, wiping out villages.
Nearly 12,000 people have since been rescued, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency.
But thousands more, including hundreds of foreign nationals – from India, the UK, Australia, the US, Malaysia and more – are still missing. A week on, fears are growing that the death toll will only rise.
Chinese rescue teams are continuing to search for more than 500 people missing on the Tibetan side of the border, but they have yet to find survivors at the crossing known as Gyirong Port between Nepal and Tibet.
Beijing, which annexed Tibet in the 1950s, tightly controls the region. All information comes from state media and foreign journalists cannot travel there without permission.
Rescuers using heavy machinery, working around the clock, have been able to re-open the route to the Gyirong border crossing and clear the road of debris, which will accelerate the search for the missing, Chinese state media said.
Rescue operations continue in challenging conditions, and experts from China and India are helping build temporary bridges to reach remote areas. Drones are being deployed over hard-to reach areas to scan for survivors.
The UN’s humanitarian agency said the main challenge was now access, with more than 40 bridges destroyed.
The most remote communities are relying on army helicopter flights for supplies, and villages are still struggling for fuel and electricity.
PRABIN RANABHAT / AFP via Getty ImagesThe full impact of the flood in Tibet is unclear. China has released information through state media outlets showing the devastation around the border, but has given few details about the victims or the impact on local villagers.
In Nepal, nearly 3,500 people have been left homeless and displaced in 27 sites – mostly schools, which disrupts education – across the districts of Nuwakot and Rasuwa.
People packed into overcrowded shelters, contaminated water and damaged health facilities were putting the population at greater risk of disease in the middle of the monsoon season, the UN agency said.
Nepal’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, said there was a renewed emphasis on protecting the lives of survivors, providing medical treatment and psychological counselling.
Shah told parliament on Wednesday the disaster “snatched away mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers from us in an instant”.
But he added “we do not have the luxury of taking a rest simply because our bodies are exhausted. Nor is there time to wail together when our hearts break.”
He said he had received news at 08:45 local time on 26 August that a flood had hit. Fifteen minutes later, district administrative offices urged people along riverbanks to evacuate, and at 09:35, precautionary warning notices were sent to mobile phones in affected areas.
In response to “why there was no timely flood warning”, he said the disaster “was beyond predictable forecasts”.
A new report has said there was evidence of growing instability around the glacier in the days before the collapse. Better early-warning systems could have saved lives, according to experts from the Asian Mountain Academic Alliance, the Stimson Centre and China’s Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment.
Scientists for years have warned of melting ice and permafrost, which is centuries-old frozen soil, in the Himalayas due to climate change.
Shah said the event showed the escalating risks facing the Himalayan region due to climate change, adding the time had come to “present a strong case before the international community regarding the disasters we are suffering” as a result.
“Climate change is a global contribution. Mitigating and managing its impacts is a shared responsibility of the global community,” he said.
Nepal has declared a disaster in 15 affected areas for three months to provide financial assistance to families of the dead, rescue and relocate the displaced and deploy the army.
The Nepalese government and the UN have agreed to launch a four-month humanitarian flash appeal.
