What began as a sudden wall of water and debris tearing through the Himalayas has become one of the deadliest cross-border disasters in years, with authorities now reporting 750 dead in Nepal and Tibet and 3,044 still missing as renewed rain forces rescuers to retreat to higher ground.
Search-and-rescue efforts have been halted repeatedly since Friday amid worsening weather and fears of further flooding from a lake that formed across the Nepal-Tibet border after a mudslide triggered by Wednesday’s glacier collapse. The lake began spilling into rivers in Nepal, raising alarm that another surge could follow.
The Red Cross has estimated that more than 90,000 people are likely to have been affected by the disaster, which China has linked to the effects of climate change.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a telephone call yesterday with his Nepalese counterpart, described the mudslide as their “most severe cross-border disaster” in recent years, saying the rescue effort faced unprecedented difficulty and complexity, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
On the Nepalese side, emergency teams are now concentrating on hydropower sites, where hundreds of people are believed to be trapped inside tunnels after a torrent of ice, rock, mud and debris roared down Himalayan rivers.
A woman looks at photographs of the missing and dead
Nepal’s disaster authority said deaths in the country have climbed to 734, with 2,498 missing and 7,514 rescued. In China, officials in Tibet told a press conference that 16 people had died in Gyirong County as of yesterday evening, while 546 remained unaccounted for.
China also issued its first nationality breakdown of missing foreign nationals on the Tibetan side, saying 261 people from 23 countries were missing. They included 104 from Nepal, 49 from neighbouring India, 33 Latvians, 18 Americans and 15 Britons.
Two Irish citizens are among those missing: 46-year-old Santosh Sahu and 18-year-old Spandan Sahu, who were named by the Nepalese Tourism Department.
Beijing and Kathmandu are coordinating to identify missing citizens and foreign nationals, while also bolstering cooperation on disaster prevention and mitigation and climate-change response, CCTV reported.
In Nepal, fresh rainfall has pushed up water levels in the Trishuli River, prompting both residents and rescue workers to move to higher ground, Nepalese police told Reuters.
While Nepal says it does not require foreign assistance for general rescue operations, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri said the country does need help with specialised tasks, including tunnel rescue, DNA testing, refrigerated storage for bodies and forensic identification of decomposed remains.
Residents living along Trishuli River take shelter at higher ground after fleeing their homes
Chhetri said Indian and Chinese experts are already on the ground assisting efforts to open tunnels.
CCTV reported that the upstream lake that had threatened to disrupt rescue operations had largely drained by yesterday evening. But drones later detected a landslide late on Saturday, 2.8 km downstream of the lake, creating a new dam and another pool of water, CCTV said.
Rescue personnel stationed near the Gyirong border crossing were moved to safety, the broadcaster added.
Link to ‘long-term effects of climate change’
CCTV said the flood was “caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming,” calling it a “new and prominent feature of cryosphere disasters” on the Tibetan plateau.
Chinese scientists found that the mudslide from the Nepalese side took six to seven minutes to reach the Gyirong border crossing, CCTV said.
Surveillance footage that has circulated worldwide captured torrents of water and debris swallowing buildings as people tried to escape.
Relief supplies from various regions arrive on the Chinese side of the border
China has deployed more than 2,100 rescue workers and committed at least 220 million yuan (€28.2m) for relief efforts. It is also providing Nepal with emergency cash aid, disaster relief supplies, satellite and hydrological data and tunnel rescue experts, CCTV reported.
Heavy-lift drones have been used as helicopters started airdropping equipment and supplies to frontline teams near the border crossing. Soldiers, equipped with life-detection gear, drones and a navigation system, have continued searching for those still missing.
Read more: Hope and horror: Families in Nepal await news of missing
