Nepal-Tibet floods: Nepal calls for technical support for rescue efforts as number of missing rises to nearly 3,000 – as it happened
This blog is now closed. • ‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in Nepal • Chinese rescuers find ‘nothing but ruins’ at border crossing as Nepal seeks help to ID and store the dead Outside the army camp in the Nuwakot district of Nepal, people run their fingers down the sheets of paper pinned to the wall, scanning the growing list of those reported missing for news of loved ones. Nepali authorities said nearly 3,000 people are missing, while China reported more than 550 people unaccounted for. Nepal’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, has appealed for international support to help rebuild the country after the floods, saying reconstruction efforts could run into “billions of dollars” AFP reports. Continue reading...
India said it is increasing surveillance of glaciers and glacial lakes in its Himalayan regions bordering Nepal and China. The deadly floods on the Nepal-Tibet border were believed to have been triggered by a glacial collapse that was detected as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event by geologists. You can read this explainer to find out more about how a collapsing glacier can generate a powerful flood, and whether the climate crisis is contributing to the risk.
Madan Kaushik, state disaster management minister in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, said: “Since we share a border with Nepal, as a neighbour, and also have a similar geographic situation … we have asked our department to monitor all the glaciers and known glacial lakes in the region.” Uttarakhand is one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of India, with 1,266 glacial lakes. As glaciers melt, water can accumulate in lakes held back by natural barriers.
If those barriers fail, vast volumes of water can be released sudden