The international community scrambled on Thursday to deliver aid to flood-hit areas of Nepal and Tibet as authorities warned that a lake formed at the site of the deadly torrents was rising and could burst.
The catastrophic flash floods that struck Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday swept through valleys and destroyed entire villages, killing at least 469 people and leaving around 1400 missing, reports The Guardian.
Rescue efforts have been complicated by the destruction of dozens of bridges and 25 miles (40km) of roads in the mountainous region, which is popular with trekkers and pilgrims. Hundreds of tourists from India, the US, Britain, Australia and Canada are among those missing.
Rescue teams found bodies hundreds of miles downstream from the disaster zone in Nepal’s Chitwan district, near the Tibetan border. Dozens of injured people were taken to Kathmandu for advanced medical treatment, while Nepali army personnel rescued more than 100 people by helicopter.
Videos from Wednesday showed a massive wall of water crashing down on the border as people attempted to flee. The power, volume and speed of the floods left little time for escape.
Trucks were overturned and homes, roads and power plants were swept away in Nepal. Officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” after a mudslide struck a border crossing.
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, described the disaster as “horrifying”. He said emergency teams had been mobilised and an initial $2 million (£1.5 million) in disaster funds had been allocated for emergency medical care, shelter and water.
Nepal’s disaster authority warned of continuing danger on Thursday and urged residents and rescuers to stay away from a swelling lake that had formed at the flood site. Chinese authorities said a barrier lake at the confluence of the Tsogyal and Purupqiangzangbu rivers was overflowing and could burst.
Girilal Budhathoki, 36, who lives in Rasuwa district in Nepal’s Bagmati province, said floodwaters swept away his wife and four children while he was away from home.
“A huge surge of water came,” he said. “Everything turned completely black, and I couldn’t understand what was happening. Suddenly, something heavy crushed me and I fell down.”
Budhathoki realised what had happened only after returning to the site where his house had stood.
“I searched desperately for my wife and children but I couldn’t find them,” he said. “They didn’t make it out. My wife was swept away too. I am all alone now.”
Kamal Kharel, who works at a hydropower plant in Chilime, also in Rasuwa district, was in the office when the floods struck.
“The whole place shook as if there had been a huge earthquake,” he said. “But when I went outside, I saw everything a storm and raging water.”
Kharel and some colleagues managed to climb a hill, where they remained until the army rescued them on Thursday morning.
“I had never seen waves crashing that high. You only see waves like that in the sea,” he said.
People from the badly affected districts of Nuwakot and Dhading in Bagmati province gathered outside an army training centre, which served as the base for helicopter rescue operations, seeking information about missing relatives.
Police recorded the names of missing people outside the barracks gate. Mobile phone torches provided the only light as the area remained without electricity following damage to hydroelectric infrastructure.
The village of Soley in Nuwakot, which had about 25 homes, was almost wiped out, according to Nirajan Paudyal, a Kathmandu-based journalist whose parents and other relatives lived there.
Paudyal travelled to the area on Thursday in search of information about his family.
“There is no update till now,” he said. “I fear there won’t be any update.”
Police and tourism officials said more than 500 foreigners were among 826 people missing in Nepal. Those unaccounted for included 177 from India, 90 from the US, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.
Chinese state media reported that at least 558 people were missing on the Tibet side of the border, including at least 260 foreign nationals.
Many victims had been travelling on pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus, Buddhists and others.
Early reports from Nepali officials suggested that an earthquake might have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse and trigger the floods. However, the US Geological Survey later said what was initially reported as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake was actually a seismic shock generated by the collapse of glacial rock and ice and the resulting debris flow.
“No earthquake had occurred,” it said.
Srijana Gurung, acting Nepal director for international NGO Plan International, said communities across the Himalayan country were facing “climate shock after shock” with little time to recover.
“Floods and landslides have always happened in Nepal but the climate crisis is making them far more frequent and intense,” she said. “The priority now must be reaching those affected, supporting families searching for loved ones and ensuring vulnerable communities have the assistance they need.”
Gurung said children and families who had lost their homes and livelihoods urgently needed medical assistance, food, shelter and hygiene kits.
“There is also a risk of waterborne disease as access to clean water and sanitation is likely to have been damaged,” she said.
Little information has emerged from Chinese authorities about the scale of destruction. Tibet remains the most tightly controlled part of China under normal circumstances. Foreign journalists cannot visit the region unless they are part of a government-controlled tour, while authorities have harshly cracked down on calls for greater autonomy by Tibetans.
Tibetans have little contact with international media because of fears of retribution.
Only brief, state-controlled reports about the floods have circulated in China, and authorities have confirmed only three deaths. Chinese reports have focused on rescue operations.
Maya Wang, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, wrote on X: “The floods raise questions about whether Chinese authorities could’ve done more to reduce disaster risks, given longstanding concerns from Tibetan diaspora groups & experts about rapid, state-led development in areas where Tibetans have little say.”
She called on Beijing to “allow Tibetans access to information and international researchers and journalists unfettered access to the region, and conduct a rigorous investigation into the disaster”.
