Rescue teams in Nepal continued working around the clock on Thursday to reach workers trapped inside hydropower facilities more than a week after flash floods devastated Himalayan communities in Nepal and Tibet.
Authorities said more than 1,270 people have been killed and more than 4,700 remain missing. Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) reported 1,252 bodies recovered, with 4,216 people still missing in Nepal. Chinese authorities in Tibet reported 21 deaths and 541 people missing.
Scientists believe a cascade of rocks, mud and water originated from a glacier collapse near the Langtang Lirung mountain peak last week, sweeping away villages, roads and bridges.
Sanjay Kc, an officer from the Nepalese army engineering department, told Al Jazeera near a blocked tunnel entrance in Rasuwa district that rescuers still hoped some survivors remained inside a power house. “Because it’s a big power house inside, so it’s a big room, and we feel that the whole power house is not flooded,” he said.
Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of the NDRRMA, told Reuters that about 20,000 houses would have to be rebuilt, including 7,500 that have been completely destroyed. He said rebuilding in the same locations would expose people to the same risks and that authorities were identifying safer sites for relocation. The United Nations Development Programme estimated floods and mudflows left at least 2.2 million tonnes of debris.
Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said major greenhouse gas emitters have a historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal and that the government has filed a formal climate compensation claim letter to international partners. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said authorities would continue searching for survivors while starting rehabilitation and rebuilding.
Sources: Al Jazeera; Reuters.
