TRISHULI/BEIJING, Aug 30 — The death toll in Nepal and Tibet from last week's catastrophic floods hit 750 today with 3,044 missing, as rescuers moved to higher ground as rain swelled river levels.
Rescue operations have been suspended several times since Friday (August 28) because of bad weather and concerns that a lake formed across the Nepal-China border by a mudslide from Wednesday's (August 26) glacier collapse could trigger fresh flooding after it began overflowing into rivers in Nepal.
The Red Cross estimates that more than 90,000 people are likely affected by the disaster, which China has linked to the effects of climate change.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Nepalese counterpart in a telephone call yesterday that the mudslide was their "most severe cross-border disaster" in recent years and that rescue operations were of unprecedented difficulty and complexity.
Tunnels become a focus of rescue efforts
Nepal's rescue effort is now focused on hundreds of people believed to be trapped in tunnels at hydropower plants after a torrent of ice, rock, mud, and debris crashed down Himalayan rivers.
The nation's disaster authority said that deaths in Nepal have risen to 734, with 2,498 missing and 7,514 rescued. In China, officials in Tibet told a media conference that 16 people have died in Gyirong County as of yesterday evening, while 546 remain missing.
They added that among the 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries missing on the Tibetan side were 104 from Nepal, 49 from neighbouring India, as well as 33 Latvians, 18 Americans and 15 Britons, in China's first breakdown by nationality.
CCTV also reported that Beijing and Kathmandu are working together to identify missing citizens and foreign nationals, as well as strengthening cooperation in disaster prevention and mitigation, and climate-change response.
The Nepalese police told Reuters that water levels in the Trishuli River rose today after fresh rain, prompting residents and rescue workers to seek higher ground.
Kathmandu says it does not need foreign help for general rescue, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Lok Bahadur Chhetri said it needs assistance with tunnel rescue, DNA testing, refrigerated storage for bodies, and forensic identification of decomposed remains.
He noted that Indian and Chinese experts are on the ground helping efforts to open tunnels.
The lake that had formed upstream and threatened rescue operations had largely drained by yesterday evening. However, CCTV reported that drones detected a landslide late yesterday at 2.8km downstream of the lake, forming a new dam and a fresh pool of water.
The authorities relocated rescue personnel near the Gyirong border crossing to safety.
Link to 'long-term effects of climate change'
CCTV also reported that the flood was "caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming", saying it was a "new and prominent feature of cryosphere disasters" on the Tibetan plateau.
The mudslide from the Nepalese side took six to seven minutes to reach the Gyirong border crossing, based on the findings of Chinese scientists. Dramatic surveillance footage shared worldwide showed torrents of water and debris engulfing buildings while people tried to flee.
China has mobilised over 2,100 rescue workers and allocated at least CN¥ 220 million (RM131.6 billion) to support relief efforts. It is also providing emergency cash aid, disaster-relief supplies, satellite and hydrological data, and tunnel-rescue experts to Nepal.
Beijing used heavy-lift drones as helicopters began airdropping equipment and supplies to frontline rescuers near the border crossing. Soldiers have used life-detection equipment, drones, and a navigation system to continue searching for those still missing.
