Nepal must rebuild thousands of homes, no let-up in search for missing, death toll reaches 1,204

Highlights:

• Authorities estimate around 20,000 houses need to be rebuilt in flood-ravaged districts
• At least 1,204 people were killed and more than 4,200 remain missing
• Authorities seek safer sites for new settlements instead of rebuilding in same locations

Nepal will have to rebuild around 20,000 houses in flood-ravaged areas, authorities said on Thursday, even as rescuers search for workers trapped in tunnels linked to hydropower projects and thousands remain missing after last week's catastrophe.

A glacier collapse on 26 August sent a deluge of ice, rock and mud sweeping through the impoverished nation's border region with China, wiping out settlements and villages and leaving few houses standing and undamaged.

"Our preliminary estimates are that 7,500 houses have been completely destroyed, either washed away or buried under debris and mud," Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, told Reuters.

Even houses still standing were not habitable, Upreti said, with authorities estimating that around 20,000 houses would have to be rebuilt.

At least 1,204 people were killed last week as waters carrying ice, mud and rock swept over houses, streets and schools in towns and villages near the country's border with China's Tibet. More than 4,200 people are still missing and thousands more displaced.

"There is no point in rebuilding the houses in the same locations, as that would expose people to the same risks," Upreti said.

Authorities were working to identify safer areas where new houses can be built and settlements relocated, so that people are not exposed to similar disasters in the future, he said.

Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah said on Wednesday that his government was focussing on rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts while continuing to look for survivors among the thousands still missing.

An army officer involved in the search-and-rescue operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said the search was continuing for survivors believed to be trapped in the tunnels related to hydropower projects.

"All the tunnels are being searched with the assistance of experts from India, South Korea and China," he said.

"The search-and-rescue operation will continue as long as there is any hope of finding survivors. Even if there are no survivors, we will recover the dead bodies," he said.

A South Korean team of rescue workers equipped with drones, rescue dogs, acoustic equipment, video and thermal imaging machinery has set up base in Batar, near the tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant, where nine South Korean workers went missing, Yonhap news agency said.

Focus on returning to normalcy

"People have lost everything. They don't have citizenship IDs or passports," said Phanindra Paudel, an official at Nepal's National Emergency Operation Center.

Authorities in disaster-hit districts were working to restore regular routines as much as possible, with a special focus on getting children into makeshift schools.

More than a week after the flood, at least 22,000 children urgently need safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene support, UNICEF said in a statement.

"Our priority is to restore normal life. We are considering if children can be taught in the holding centres till the time regular classes resume," Paudel said.

Finding safe buildings in which to hold classes was a challenge, teachers said.

"We are looking for safe, empty buildings or other schools where we can resume classes. The school building was completely washed away, so we will have to build a new one in a safer location," said Rajendra Dawadi, headmaster of a school who helped save about 900 students by evacuating them in time.

Shanti Sunar, 45, escaped the disaster with her husband but lost her house and a small shop she ran.

"I have been visiting the site almost every day. I can recognise where our house stood, but there is no trace of it now. I go there to look in the hope of finding some gold and jewellery we could not take while escaping," she said.

"We cannot rebuild at the same location because it is not safe. I expect the government to relocate us to a safer place."

Nepal plans to rebuild an early-warning system for landslides on its side of the border with China, installing seismic sensors, cameras and a satellite link, two Nepali government sources told Reuters on Wednesday.