Search for survivors continues in Nepal and Tibet after last week’s floods in the Himalayas, which left a trail of destruction in the towns and villages of the country’s valleys, as well as across the border in China.
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For now, local authorities have raised the death toll to 903 and the number of missing to 4,247 in the tragedy. In addition, the Nepalese disaster management authority estimates that at least 933 workers could be trapped in about half a dozen hydroelectric projects in the country.
Red Cross estimates 90,000 people affected by the disaster
Prime Minister Balendra Shah described the floods as an “unprecedented and devastating natural disaster” and said it remains difficult to make a full assessment of the damage. Rescue teams, meanwhile, are focusing on reaching workers trapped in hydroelectric project tunnels, blocked by mud and rock debris. An initial estimate by the Red Cross places the number of people affected by the disaster at 90,000.
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Although Nepal has indicated that, overall, it does not need foreign aid for search and rescue operations, it has turned to its neighbors, India and China, for their experience in tunnel rescues.
Rescue operations have been suspended several times since Friday due to bad weather and fears that a lake formed by the disaster on the border between Nepal and China could cause new floods. The floods were “caused by glacier instability due to the long-term effects of global warming,” according to Chinese state television CCTV, which described them as a “new and prominent feature of cryosphere disasters” on the Tibetan plateau. China has linked the natural disaster to the effects of climate change.
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