Nepal-China floods death toll crosses 1,000; rescuers reach remote areas, electricity restored
Nepali rescuers built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects in the Himalayas to rescue close to 300 trapped workers, nearly a week after the devastating floods.
Highlights:
- Death toll surpasses 1,000, nearly 4,000 people still missing
- Nepal reported 987 deaths, China 16
- Around 12,000 people rescued across Nepal
- Nearly 1,000 remain trapped at hydropower projects
- Focus of rescue efforts now on devastated hydropower stations
- Aid worth more than $42 million has flowed into Nepal, Shah says
The death toll from devastating floods in Nepal and China has crossed 1,000, authorities said today (1 September), as rescue teams continued efforts to reach people stranded in remote areas.
Nepal's disaster management authorities said 987 people had died in the country, while nearly 4,000 others remained missing. Among the missing are 583 foreign nationals. Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths in their latest update on Sunday (30 August), reports UNB citing AP.
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So far, at least 11,814 people have been rescued in Nepal, according to officials. Rescue teams are using helicopters and other aircraft to reach communities cut off after floods and landslides destroyed roads and bridges.
Meanwhile, Nepali rescuers built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects in the Himalayas to rescue close to 300 trapped workers, nearly a week after devastating floods left a trail of destruction across the country's towns and valleys, reports Reuters.
About 600 people remain stuck in several devastated hydropower stations that have become the focus of rescue efforts, while Prime Minister Balendra Shah said over 11,000 people have been rescued across the affected region and power and communication lines had been restored in some areas.
"Thousands of citizens have lost their homes, families, loved ones and property. The government understands the immense pain they are enduring. The path ahead is to support them through this suffering and help them return to normal life through rehabilitation," Shah said in a late-night social media post.
Rescue teams had managed to restore road networks to Nuwakot, one of the worst-affected districts, facilitating rescue operations and distribution of relief material, Shah said.
Police official Bipin Regmi said a search team recovered 24 bodies from a house in Betrabati village in Nuwakot district.
"We are reaching new areas and recovering bodies," Regmi told Reuters.
Aid worth more than $42 million had poured into the country after the disaster, Shah said, and the government expected the contributions to increase.
Neighbours India and China, between whom Nepal is wedged, were helping with rescue efforts, including building bailey bridges to reach remote affected areas.
Focus on hydropower stations
Shah said 279 workers had been rescued from hydropower projects so far, where authorities estimated that close to 1,000 people were trapped.
Pictures and videos shared by rescue teams showed earth-moving equipment digging and shovelling mud and rocks under lights in the dark of the night as workers watched. Soldiers used torchlight in a big pit they had created to look for space to get into one tunnel.
There has been a boom in hydropower projects in Nepal since the turn of the century as the mountainous country sought to take advantage of its Himalayan water resources to address chronic domestic power shortages and exploit prospects for selling electricity to its southern neighbour, India.
Hydropower projects in Nepal's mountains need tunnels to carry water through the steep terrain, allowing developers to exploit the sharp elevation drop between Himalayan rivers and powerhouses to generate electricity.
Shah said the catastrophic event signalled the growing risks that the Himalayan region faces.
"The region must therefore remain vigilant. The time has come for us to strongly raise before the international community the disasters we are experiencing as a consequence of climate change," Shah said in his post.
Last week's flood was "caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming", China's state broadcaster said on Monday.
The disaster began on 26 August following a series of events in the high Himalayan region. A glacier collapse sent huge amounts of rock, ice, and melting water into nearby valleys, triggering powerful floods downstream.
Scientists analysing satellite images said the incident appears to have been caused by the collapse of rock beneath a glacier in the Himalayas. The massive rockfall was strong enough to produce a seismic event measuring 5.2 in magnitude.
The sudden flow of water and debris then entered rivers running through Tibet and Nepal, causing water levels to rise rapidly.
The floods swept away homes, buildings, roads, and bridges, while large amounts of mud and rocks were carried downstream, causing widespread destruction.
