Nepal-Tibet flood: Nearly 2,000 people missing as rescue efforts resume
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At least 579 people have been killed, Nepal authorities said. The State Department said 90 Americans are unaccounted for in Nepal and China.
What to know
- At least 579 people are dead after the catastrophic flash floods Wednesday along the border between Nepal and China's Tibet region, authorities in Nepal said.
- Nearly 2,000 people are missing, Nepali authorities said, almost double previous estimates. The missing include hundreds of foreign tourists. Rescue operations have resumed in both China and Nepal after they were briefly suspended amid fears of renewed flooding.
- In China, where a mudslide hit a land crossing between Nepal and Tibet’s Gyirong county, authorities said five people were dead and 558 others were missing, including 260 foreigners. It was unclear if some missing people had been counted by both countries.
- The State Department said 90 Americans are unaccounted for in Nepal and China, while three have been rescued in Nepal. It said it was not aware of any U.S. deaths.
- The deadly torrent followed a glacial collapse in the Himalayan region, which is home to many of the world's highest peaks and a high concentration of glaciers.
American woman on phone with family when call cut at time of devastating flood
Bina Parikh, 65, was headed to Tibet through Nepal on a spiritual journey ahead of her birthday next month when the devastating floods struck.
She called her family in the United States on Tuesday, noting that she was at the border of Nepal and Tibet, when the call cut. The family has not heard from her since.
Parikh was a world traveler, and “this was a pilgrimage,” her daughter Kavita Parikh told NBC New York. “She really wanted to do it,” she said.
The flood struck Nepal near the border with Tibet and now Bina’s family are left waiting. The scope of the mass casualty disaster is not lost on the family, but there’s also a sense of helplessness, Kavita said.
“It is a natural disaster. It is also very difficult to sit here. It feels like we're twiddling our thumbs because we’re not really doing anything,” she said. “But we’re doing everything we can do, but it just doesn’t feel enough.”
Debris-dammed lakes unlikely to cause major flooding, say experts
Lakes formed by an ice-rock avalanche that led to flooding in the Lande River are unlikely to pose a risk of major flooding, experts say.
Analysis suggests a lake formed at the confluence of the Chhochen Khola and Purepu Tsangpo rivers, holding an "estimated few million cubic metres of water," has begun to gradually outflow, said Neera Pradhan of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, a regional mountain body working with Nepalese officials to guide emergency planning, told NBC News.
"It is assumed that the gradual outflow is unlikely to cause major flooding downstream, and even a sudden outburst would not generate a flood comparable in scale to the 26 August event," Pradhan said.
"Our team is working on it to validate the information. Nevertheless, we shall advise downstream communities and rescue teams to remain cautious and avoid riverbanks," she said.
Husband and son of missing American woman hope for her safe return after Nepal floods
Among the thousands of people waiting to hear from loved ones are the family of Amita Amin, who traveled with her daughter-in-law’s mother and friends on a tour to a holy site in China's Tibet region when devastating floods struck the area.
“Our biggest concern is that we don’t have a full grasp of what time they may have gone through” the border crossing between Nepal and Tibet, Dhruv Amin, Amita’s son, told NBC New York.
The tour operator told NBC New York that the tour bus had passed the border into Tibet. But lack of communication with Amita has family members in the U.S. deeply concerned.
Amita, her daughter-in-law’s mother Tejal Patel, and friends were on a trip to visit Mount Kailash in Tibet, which is sacred to several religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. Amita has been to the site before.
Amita's husband of 47 years, Mahendra Amin, told NBC New York that he is hoping for his wife’s safe return, and that the lack of communication is due to technical issues.
“I hope, I hope — wherever you are, listen to me, come back,” Mahendra told the station. “I’m missing you.”
NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins explains how a glacier collapse triggered catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-China border and why experts are linking it to climate change.
Nepal will need long-term help to recover from catastrophic floods, director of CARE Nepal says
The director of CARE Nepal, a prominent NGO that has been working in the country since 1978, said she welcomed the $500,000 in emergency assistance that the U.S. government has pledged to Nepal.
But, said Mona Sherpa, this is a short-term fix.
“Infrastructure has been severely damaged, livelihoods have been disrupted,” Sherpa told NBC News. “Thus, recovery will require a long-term engagement focused on rebuilding homes, restoring livelihood, improving resilience, and ensuring that the communities can recover safely and sustainably.”
While there have been drastic cuts to foreign aid under the Trump Administration, Sherpa said the U.S. government has “always supported Nepal.”
“I think understanding the impact of this disaster, mainly on the rehabilitation and recovery, there will be some support to rebuild the community,” Sherpa said.
Floodwaters moved faster than highway speed before striking border post between Nepal and China
After rock and ice collapsed from Langtang Lirung mountain and touched off a debris flow Wednesday, floodwaters traveled at more than 93 mph until they reached a border crossing at Gyirong Port.
"We measured about 7 1/2 minutes between the start of this big slope collapse and the arrival of the flow at the Chinese border post," said Kristen Cook, a geomorphologist at the Université Grenoble Alpes in France.
The border post suffered catastrophic destruction, according to videos authenticated by NBC News.
Cook said the floodwaters took about six more minutes to reach the village of Syapru Besi, slowing to roughly 87 mph over that length of the river. After that, the flood wave progressively slowed, giving people in hard-hit Betrawati about 45 minutes of time before it was struck.
The fast-moving waters destroyed flood gauges along the river, hampering officials' ability to warn residents.
"All of the gauges upstream on the Trishuli were destroyed," Cook said. "They were destroyed before they could even transmit any data that the water was rising. And so people can know that something’s wrong because our gauges are gone, but they had absolutely no idea how big the flood was."
Chinese tour guide accidentally captures deadly glacier collapse
A drone video filmed by a Chinese mountaineer on Wednesday captured the moment rocks and snow began falling from a glacier in Nepal, unleashing deadly flooding below.
The video was filmed by Hei Mu, who has been leading tour groups in Tibet for 12 years, next to a meteorological station, around 13 miles away from where the ice collapse took place, and 6 miles away from China’s Gyirong border crossing, which was totally destroyed by rushing water and mud.
Dust rises from the area of the glacier collapse. Hei Mu
“At the time of filming, I didn’t notice the mudslide because the sun was very strong and I couldn’t see the screen clearly,” Hei, 34, told NBC News in a phone interview. Hei said it was only the next day, when he shared the footage on Chinese photo-sharing platform RedNote and someone flagged it in the comments, that he discovered he had accidentally captured the glacier collapse and mudslide.
In the video, Hei stands on a mountain ridge, with music swelling as it captures the sunny day. In one six-second wide shot of Nepal’s Langtang Valley, gray dust can be seen rising in the distance, before a brief shot of snow on the glacier starting to run downhill.
Hei said he heard loud booms even before he started filming the video but assumed it may have been a military exercise. “If someone with experience had recognized it as a glacier collapse, maybe reporting it immediately could have bought a little time,” he added. “But that’s just hindsight. It already happened; nobody could change it.”
Satellite imagery shows new unstable lake formed by blocked riverways
Debris from Wednesday’s disaster has blocked riverways, forming an unstable lake at risk of overflowing.
The lake is approximately 7 miles northeast of the Nepal-Tibet border and at the foot of the glacial collapse. It holds 2 million cubic meters of water, equivalent to 800 Olympic-size swimming pools, Chinese state media reported.
Nepal declines foreign rescue help
Nepal does not need foreign assistance for search-and-rescue operations, its foreign ministry said, despite offers from several countries with nationals missing.
Hundreds of foreign nationals are still missing, including from South Korea, which said it has already sent a response team to Nepal and will also dispatch a disaster relief team.
But Nepal’s foreign ministry said on Friday that it was managing the rescue efforts itself.
“The offer for help is natural. Our security agencies are doing the search-and-rescue operation. For now we don’t require such help,” Lok Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said on Friday.
A Nepal army official conducts a search-and-rescue operation along a river in Nepal's Dhading district today. Nand Kumar / AP
The Kathmandu Post reported that India, China, the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had asked the government to allow their search-and-rescue teams to assist in the operation.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said Nepal had indicated it was not yet planning to accept foreign rescue teams.
“South Korea will keep negotiating with Nepal over the matter,” the ministry added.
Number of missing people climbs to nearly 2,000
There are 1,924 people missing across Nepal following the devastating floods, the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said in an update.
About a quarter of those missing, 517 people, are believed to be foreign nationals, according to the Nepali government agency.
The death toll has now reached 579.
Nepali army personnel carry recovered bodies in the Nuwakot district today. Prabin Ranabhat / AFP via Getty Images
Nepal Red Cross steps up relief efforts
Rishi Raman Khanal, secretary-general of the Nepal Red Cross Society, told NBC News the organization is focusing on providing shelter items, personal hygiene kits, food, emergency assessments and body bags for affected communities.
Red Cross relief workers have not yet been able to reach the hard-hit Rasuwa region directly due to damaged and blocked roads, he said.
A preliminary assessment concluded that more than 90,000 people may have been affected across the disaster-hit areas, according to Khanal.
He stressed that the impact extends beyond Rasuwa, with communities in different parts of Nepal also requiring urgent humanitarian assistance.
Photos: Residents react to a flash flood warning in Devighat, Nepal
Residents of the Nepali village of Devighat took refuge on a hilltop after police alerted them of another possible flash flood today. Pictures show people running to safety amid the destruction from Wednesday's flooding.
Residents run to safety after police alerted them of another possible flash flood, in Devighat, Nepal, today. Ezra Acayan / Getty Images
A resident makes her way along destroyed structures in Devighat. Ezra Acayan / Getty Images
Structures covered in thick mud and debris. Ezra Acayan / Getty Images
Devighat residents view the Trishuli river from a hilltop after police alerted them of another possible surge. Ezra Acayan / Getty Images
State Department urges Americans in flood-hit areas to get in touch
The State Department has urged U.S. citizens "currently in, or recently traveling through Rasuwa or another affected area" to get in touch.
Citizens in the flood-hit areas should "email KathmanduACS@state.gov with your full name, current location, status, and name of tour or trekking company," a spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson said relatives seeking information about family members in Nepal "should call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free from the United States and Canada, or 1-202-501-4444 from other locations."
Those seeking information about family members in China "should call 010-8531 4000 from China or 011-86-10-8531 4000 from the United States," the spokesperson added.
The U.S. embassies in Nepal and China are working closely with local tour agencies and local authorities to assist Americans in the affected areas as Nepali-led search-and-rescue operations continue, the spokesperson said.
Around 90 Americans are thought to have been affected by the floods, and so far three Americans have been rescued.
U.S. delivers first aid shipment to Nepal
The U.S. Embassy in Nepal said a range of supplies requested by the Nepali government is being delivered.
The emergency supplies include food, blankets, mosquito nets and insulating foam sheets for temporary shelter flooring.
Death toll in Nepal rises again, authorities say
Nepal Police reported yet another rise in the death toll today, which now stands at 553 people.
The area with the highest number of bodies recovered remains Chitwan, far downstream from the hardest-hit areas.
The number of people injured and rescued stands at nearly 1,500, police said.
Rescue teams search for survivors today in Nuwakot, Nepal. Shankar Bhujel / Sipa USA via AP
Here's what we know about the dangerous formation of upstream lakes
Nepali authorities say they’re monitoring two lakes upstream from the main flood zone, one of which began overflowing today, according to Reuters, which quoted a disaster management authority official.
The official said that flood risks will remain until the two lakes are fully drained. The exact location and number of these lakes are unclear due to cloudy satellite imagery and the presence of several river bodies and valleys.
But we know of at least one large body of water that has formed at the foot of where the ice avalanche occurred, about 7 miles northeast and upstream from the main Nepal-Tibet border crossing that was wiped out Wednesday, according to an NBC News review of satellite imagery of the area and coverage by Chinese state media.
That area in China’s Tibet region already had a body of water before the mudslide, but imagery from today showed a huge water buildup. Aerial footage released earlier by CCTV also showed enormous quantities of mud and water in the valley, which sits upstream from the border crossing and the populated areas of Nepal.
Chicago woman on Hindu pilgrimage says she’s ‘extremely lucky’ to be alive
A Chicago woman on a Hindu pilgrimage to Tibet told NBC News she felt “extremely lucky” to be alive after visiting the area on the border with Nepal just two days before floodwaters swept everything in their path.
Maya Patel, 61, was on a trip with 36 other people from the U.S. to Mount Kailash, a peak in Tibet considered sacred by Hindus. “We thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip,” Patel, an information technology consultant, said in a telephone interview from the mountain’s Darchen base camp.
“Everyone is safe,” she said, adding that they had prayed for the dead as soon as the disaster struck.
The group will finish up its tour in China before catching a flight back to Kathmandu later this week, she added — a route alteration, given the disaster.
“We feel extremely lucky, we feel Shiva has given us one more chance,” Patel said, invoking the Hindu god.
Death toll rises to 547, Nepal police say
The death toll in Nepal has increased again, reaching 547 people, Nepal Police said this afternoon.
The greatest number of bodies, 221, has been recovered in the Chitwan district, the police said, dozens of miles downstream from the hardest-hit areas.
A relative consoles Sabina Dangal outside a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, today. Dar Yasin / AP
'Just staring at the phone': Son of missing American speaks of anguish
Sunny Patel last heard from his father, Jitendra Patel, on Tuesday night in the United States — Wednesday in Nepal, and just about an hour before the catastrophic floods hit.
Jitendra Patel, 72, had embarked on a “yatra,” a sacred Hindu pilgrimage that typically starts in Nepal and passes through Tibet and takes hours of driving and treking to get to Mount Kailash.
“My dad, as far as we know, crossed into Tibet, so he was in China, and we haven’t really gotten a lot of information from them,” Patel, 38, told NBC News from Long Island, referring to his correspondence with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. His father was traveling with a group of friends.
“It’s hard when you’re living in this situation every minute,” he said. “It’s just been, I mean, devastating, and you’re just staring at the phone, waiting for someone to get in touch with you.”
Families gather outside hospital in Pokhara to identify loved ones
At the Western Regional Hospital in Pokhara, Nepal, a crowd of families could be seen gathering outside the facility's morgue as they anxiously waited to see if their loved ones might be among the dead being brought to the medical facility.
A morgue building in Pokhara, Nepal, where relatives of missing people have gathered to wait for information. Sunil Pandey / NBC News
Inside the hospital, a digital display could be seen being set up to show photographs of the faces of some of the victims of Wednesday's catastrophic flash floods, in hopes that their loved ones might be able to identify them.
The display was set up by police, with authorities saying some of the bodies recovered from the floods were in an advanced state of decomposition, making physical identification difficult.
A digital display set up inside Western Regional Hospital to show flood victim photographs. Sunil Pandey / NBC News
It comes after scores of bodies were transferred to Pokhara for identification due to a lack of capacity at local facilities.
Road to Nepal's hard-hit Rasuwa district partially reopens
Nepal’s hard-hit district of Rasuwa has been reconnected to the national road network, aiding rescue efforts as hundreds of people remain missing.
The road connecting Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, to the town of Dhunche in Rasuwa has reopened for four-wheeled light vehicles, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said.
Rasuwa, on Nepal’s northern border with China, suffered some of the worst damage in this week’s catastrophic flooding, which swept away multiple bridges and 25 miles of road, cutting off thousands of people.
Rescue efforts continue in China's Tibet region
Efforts to recover from a mudslide at Gyirong Port, a land crossing in China's Tibet region on the border with Nepal, have been hampered as roads and telecommunications links remain cut off, and officials warn there is still a risk of secondary disasters.
Rescue operations have resumed after being briefly suspended early today amid fears of new flooding from a lake that formed as a result of Wednesday's glacial collapse and subsequent flash floods. Chinese officials said today that the death toll in Gyirong county had increased to five from three. The number of people missing remained at 558, including 260 foreign nationals.
Li Lin / China News Service via Getty Ima
Excavators and loaders clear debris on a damaged section of road leading to Gyirong Port in China's Tibet region today. Li Lin / China News Service via Getty Images
Rescue workers gather as traffic departments work to clear a landslide-affected section of the G216 highway leading to Gyirong Port today. Li Lin / China News Service via Getty Images
Dozens of bodies transferred to Pokhara for identification
Scores of bodies recovered along the banks of the Trishuli and Narayani rivers have been brought to the city of Pokhara on Phewa Lake in central Nepal for identification, officials said.
At least 102 bodies were transferred to Pokhara after search crews and locals found them in a number of districts, including Navalpur, Dhading, Gorkha and Tanahun, Chitrangad Baral, the assistant chief district officer of Kaski, which includes Pokhara, told NBC News.
He said the bodies were transferred to Pokhara because local facilities lacked the capacity to carry out identification efforts for the remains found.
More than 90,000 people affected by landslide, Red Cross says
More than 90,000 people are believed to be affected by the Himalayan landslide, the Red Cross said as fears of additional flooding grew.
“We’re of course very concerned about the secondary flood,” David Fisher, head of delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Nepal, said today, according to Reuters.
He said trucks carrying relief supplies had also been blocked after the banks of a lake formed by the landslide broke.
Both Nepal and China were forced to temporarily suspend rescue operations today amid concerns about new flood risks following the catastrophic glacial collapse this week.
320 Indians are missing after flood, Foreign Ministry says
There are 320 Indian nationals missing after the mudslide and flood disaster on the Nepal-Tibet border, the Indian Foreign Ministry said, up from 288 reported yesterday.
“Please do keep in mind that we are in a dynamic situation, so figures keep going up and down,” ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a news conference. “Also, we have to reconcile several lists that we are dealing with.”
Jaiswal said that 21 Indian nationals from the state of Tamil Nadu who arrived yesterday in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, from the flood-affected area were now in Delhi and that 63 Indian nationals working at the Trishuli-1 hydropower project had also been rescued.
He said there were also about 100 people of Indian origin who remained unreachable, many of whom were on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a high-altitude site in Tibet that is revered by Hindus and Buddhists. On the Chinese side, 400 Indian nationals are now safe and have been in touch with their families, Jaiswal said.
Nepali army rescues people trapped in a tunnel after flooding
Video shows the Nepali army rescuing people from the Rasuwa Hydropower tunnel after catastrophic flooding struck the region.
Death toll rises to 538, Nepal authorities say
The death toll in Nepal has risen to 538, authorities said, with hundreds of others missing or out of contact.
Of the 937 people missing, 517 are foreign nationals and 127 are nonresident Nepalis visiting Nepal, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said Friday afternoon local time.
A woman cries after being rescued at an army camp following flash floods, in Battar Bazar, Nepal, today. Prabin Ranabhat / AFP via Getty Images
Officials said a total of 78 helicopter flights have been conducted using helicopters from the Nepal army as well as private ones.
121 foreign travelers have been rescued, Nepal Tourism Board says
As of Friday afternoon local time, 121 foreign travelers have been rescued, the Nepal Tourism Board said, including 85 from India, 16 from China, nine from South Korea and two from the U.S.
They also include two each from Russia and Italy, one each from Bulgaria and Switzerland, and three whose nationalities have not been confirmed.
The State Department said earlier that two Americans had been rescued in Nepal.
Death toll rises to 489, Nepal police say
Authorities in Nepal have recovered a total of 489 bodies after a catastrophic flood tore through the Himalayan border area between Nepal and China’s Tibet region, Nepal’s police said Friday afternoon local time in a post on X.
Residents salvage belongings from their destroyed home in Devighat, Nepal, today. Ezra Acayan / Getty Images
Hundreds of others have been rescued, officials said, including dozens who received medical treatment at hospitals in the capital, Kathmandu.
China's Xi sends condolences to president of Nepal
Chinese leader Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence to Nepali President Ramchandra Padel, as both of their countries continued to search for hundreds of missing people.
"Xi emphasized that China is making every effort to search for the missing, relocate and shelter affected residents, treat the injured promptly, minimize casualties, and prevent secondary disasters," Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, reported.
Xi also presided over a meeting of China's Politburo to direct rescue work, where officials called for stronger dynamic monitoring and early-warning capabilities and improved ability to identify risks along disaster chains, Xinhua said.
Photos: Nepal flash flood leaves hundreds missing in Himalayan border district
Relatives of missing flood victims were pictured seeking information at the emergency ward of the Maharajgunj Medical Campus in Kathmandu, Nepal, today.
A woman looks at the list of missing flood victims at the emergency ward of the Maharajgunj Medical Campus. Ritesh Shukla / Getty Images
Images of missing flood victims on display at the hospital. Ritesh Shukla / Getty Images
Family members of missing flood victims at the hospital. Ritesh Shukla / Getty Images
A list of missing flood victims on display at the hospital. Ritesh Shukla / Getty Images
Family members of the missing console each other. Ritesh Shukla / Getty Images
At least 39 Australians are missing, foreign minister says
At least 39 Australians are missing after the Nepal-China floods, the Australian government said, up from an earlier estimate of 34.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong also said Australia was providing 5 million Australian dollars ($3.6 million) in humanitarian assistance.
“The extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery,” she said in a statement today.
Glacier collapse was most likely linked to thawing permafrost, scientists say
The floodwaters that smashed through Nepali villages Wednesday are the latest in a series of catastrophic events in the Himalayas associated with rising temperatures and shifting high alpine ice and rock.
Experts who study such hazards said the precise sequence of events that touched off the flooding won’t be clear for days or weeks. But so far, satellite imagery shows a glacial collapse into the Lende Khola, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River, which starts in Tibet and flows into Nepal, west of Kathmandu. Seismometers recorded a 5.2-magnitude landslide.
“It’s just horrific. I’ve never seen a flood of this magnitude,” said Alton Byers, a faculty research scientist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University Colorado Boulder.
About 30 Canadians and permanent residents missing after Nepal flooding, Canadian government says
About 30 Canadians and permanent residents are missing after catastrophic flooding in Nepal and the Tibet region, the Canadian government said.
“Given the extremely difficult circumstances on the ground, this number will fluctuate as new information comes in,” it said in a statement yesterday.
Nepal declines foreign help with rescue efforts
Nepal said it does not need international assistance with search-and-rescue operations following the devastating flash flood, despite offers of help from several countries with nationals missing in the disaster.
Hundreds of foreign nationals are still missing, including from India, South Korea, Australia and the United States. But Nepal said it was managing the rescue efforts.
“The offer for help is natural. Our security agencies are doing the search and rescue operation. For now we don’t require such help,” Lok Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said today without providing further details.
Nepal flood rescue operations resume after brief suspension
Nepalese authorities have resumed rescue operations in the region hit by a devastating flood this week, an army spokesperson said, after a brief suspension due to concerns about water overflowing from a barrier lake.
An army soldier helps a girl disembark from a helicopter in Nepal's Nuwakot district today after she is rescued from an area cut off by flash flooding. Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP
China resumes rescue operations as risk posed by Tibet lake 'gradually decreasing'
The water levels in a newly formed lake in Tibet have dropped by about 32 feet since yesterday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported, saying the "risk posed by the dammed lake is gradually decreasing."
Chinese authorities had earlier scaled back rescue operations out of fear that the lake, which formed after Wednesday's glacier collapse, could burst and threaten rescuers. CCTV said rescue operations were "continuing in an orderly manner."
Meanwhile, CCTV said that China was using drones to airlift firefighters into the disaster zone.
Death toll in China rises to 5; number of missing still at 558
The Chinese foreign ministry said the death toll from a mudslide and flood disaster on the Nepal-Tibet border had risen to five, up from three earlier. The number of people who are unaccounted for remains the same at 558, including 260 foreigners.
Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian also said both sides had confirmed the cause of the disaster as a high-altitude glacial collapse. Chinese rescue efforts are concentrated in Tibet's Gyirong county, which was hit by a mudslide at a land crossing between China and Nepal.
Nepal Red Cross shifts focus from rescue to large-scale relief
The Nepal Red Cross Society says it has shifted its focus from rescue efforts to large-scale relief operations in areas heavily hit by floods.
Bishal Kumar Bhandari, chairman of the Nepal Red Cross, said that around 1,200 people were displaced from at least three villages, The Associated Press reported today.
Meanwhile, police in Bidur, a Nepali town downstream from the flood, have warned residents that new floodwaters could be on the way and told them to stay away from the river.
Why China and Nepal suspended rescue operations
Rescuers combing for survivors in Tibet and Nepal are facing a constant threat from two lakes formed upstream after the catastrophic glacial collapse two days ago.
Today, Nepal and China said the lake on the Tibet side, which is just 7 miles upstream of the Gyirong border crossing that was entirely wiped out on Wednesday, was leaking water. The lake is carrying over 2 million cubic meters of water and formed around 3,000 feet above the border crossing. Chinese authorities said yesterday that rainfall could more than double the size of the lake in the next three days.
Both countries said today that rescue operations had been temporarily suspended.
A second lake formed by the flowing debris blocking the Bhotekoshi river in Nepal is also at risk of bursting, Nepal’s disaster management authority said yesterday.
Scores of bodies found far downstream from hardest-hit areas
Nepali police say rescuers have found scores of bodies in the Chitwan district, dozens of miles downstream from the hardest-hit areas.
As the death toll in Nepal following Wednesday's catastrophic flash floods rose to at least 469 people killed, Nepal Police said that at least 186 bodies had been found in Chitwan. That makes the district the place where the highest number of bodies have so far been found, according to the data shared by police.
China suspends rescue operations in Tibet amid new flood risk
A lake formed by debris from the glacial collapse has begun to overflow on the Chinese side of the border, forcing the suspension of rescue operations, Chinese state media reported.
Rescue vehicles head to Gyirong Port in Tibet's Gyirong county yesterday. Yue Yuewei / Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
Chinese authorities had warned yesterday of new flooding risk from the newly formed lake, which is upstream from Gyirong Port, a land crossing between China's Tibet region and Nepal. Local officials say a mudslide there has left 558 people missing, including 260 foreigners, while three people have died and two have been rescued so far.
'The flood is coming,' Nepal police officer tells NBC News
Police in Bidur, a Nepali town downstream from the flood, are warning residents that new floodwaters could be on the way, using whistles and loudspeakers to keep people away from the river.
“The flood is coming,” a police officer told NBC News. “It’s coming. You go.”
Bidur, the capital of Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district, is one of the staging areas for the military’s search-and-rescue efforts. Officials are warning that new floods could be coming from Rasuwa, a neighboring district that also borders China’s Tibet region, where officials say a lake formed by this week’s glacial collapse and subsequent flood is at risk of overflowing.
Lake has burst on Tibet side, Nepal official says, as residents are warned of more flooding
A large lake on the Chinese side of the border has burst, an official in Nepal’s Rasuwa district said, warning people in riverbank areas to be alert for more flooding.
The lake at the confluence of the Chhochen Khola and Purepu Tsangpo rivers in China's Tibet region was formed as a result of the glacial collapse and subsequent flood on Wednesday, and Chinese authorities had warned that it could overflow.
"We received information from the Chinese side that the dammed lake has burst," said Narendra Pariyar, chief district officer of Rasuwa, which is near the border with China. "A circular has already been issued advising residents in the river's coastal and riverbank areas to remain safe."
The two rivers are upper tributaries of Nepal's main waterway, the Trishuli river, which has been flooded since Wednesday. Nepal police issued a warning urging rescue workers to move to safe locations, forcing them to suspend the search for survivors.
Rescue efforts halted as authorities warn of new flood risk
Authorities in Nepal have stopped rescue operations for the next 90 minutes, an army officer said Friday, after reports that a dammed lake in the flood-hit region began to overflow.
Helicopter rescue operations in the flood-hit Rasuwa district were stopped and locals were seen rushing up the hill, according to a Reuters witness.
Dalai Lama says floods may have deeper underlying cause, 'whether climate change or other factors'
The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s highest spiritual leader, said he was saddened to learn of the “devastating” floods.
“I pray for all those who have lost their lives, and offer my sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved and to all those affected by this tragedy,” he said in a statement.
“Since this region has seen calamities in the past as well, these are certainly symptoms of a deeper underlying cause — whether climate change or other factors,” said the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India. “I hope that appropriate follow-up measures will be taken, wherever possible, to help ensure that such disasters do not recur.”
In Nepal, an anxious wait for news of missing loved ones
People speaking with the police as they search for missing relatives at Bir Hospital in Kathmandu on Friday. Prakash Mathema / AFP via Getty Images
Relatives of missing people waiting for news at Trishuli camp in Nepal's Nuwakot district on Friday. Arun Sankar / AFP via Getty Images
Climate change likely played a role in the disaster, experts say
While it will take time to determine the exact cause of the mudslide and flood disaster, analysts say climate change is likely to have played a role.
The Himalayan region — which includes Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, China and Afghanistan — is among the places most vulnerable to climate change in the world, with temperatures rising faster than the global average. Rising temperatures are accelerating glacial melt, further destabilizing a region that is already prone to floods, landslides and earthquakes.
They could also increase the likelihood of glacial collapses, like the one that occurred yesterday. The disaster is thought to have begun when a massive amount of ice and rock crashed into the valley below, setting off catastrophic floods that wiped away roads, buildings and entire villages.
“We will not be able to attribute 100% that this is because of climate change, because these changes have been happening” over a long period of time, said Neera Shrestha Pradhan, an expert at Nepal’s International Center for Integrated Mountain Development. But climate change might be breaking a threshold, she said, and “maybe that might be one of the causes of this happening.”
Death toll rises to 469, Nepal police say
Authorities in Nepal have recovered a total of 469 bodies after a catastrophic flood tore through the Himalayan border region between Nepal and China’s Tibet region, Nepal’s police said Friday morning local time on X.
Hundreds of others have been rescued, officials said, including dozens who received medical treatment at hospitals in the capital, Kathmandu.
Rescuers working around the clock in hard-to-reach areas to comb for survivors, U.N. says
Rescuers are working “day and night” to search for survivors amid challenging conditions, a U.N. official said.
“The roads are destroyed and so it’s extremely, extremely difficult to have access,” Lila Pieters Yahia, the U.N. resident coordinator in Nepal, said at a news conference. “We have electricity which has been disrupted, about 10% in the total area. And in total, we have about 10,000 households, which are in immediate need.”
About 25 miles of road have been damaged, she said.
“The government has established a relief fund, and already the World Bank, India, China and the U.S. have committed to pledge $229 million to support,” she said, adding that the U.N. is also providing $2 million from its humanitarian relief fund for immediate assistance.
Glacier section that fell was almost twice the height of the Burj Khalifa
Families wait in agony as Nepal floods leave hundreds missing
The last time Radhika Sharma heard from her parents, they had just crossed from Nepal into Tibet.
Ramesh Sharma, 65, and Neelam Sharma, 64, who live in New York and are U.S. citizens, were making a religious pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a peak in Tibet considered sacred by Hindus, Buddhists and other faiths. Shortly after their border crossing Wednesday, a towering torrent of water, rock and mud tore through the same Himalayan corridor.
Ramesh Sharma, left, and Neelam Sharma. Courtesy of Dr. Radhika Sharma
Videos from the hardest-hit border regions showed people running as the debris flow swallowed buildings and vehicles, devastated towns and settlements, and severed roads, power and communications. The suspected collapse of a melting glacier shook the ground so violently that seismic monitors initially registered it as a magnitude-4.4 earthquake.
Huge Himalayan glacier collapse unleashed catastrophic flooding in Nepal and Tibet
A massive chunk of ice and rock dozens of times larger than the Empire State Building broke off a mountaintop and triggered the catastrophic flooding that killed hundreds and left more than a thousand missing in Nepal and Tibet, geologists said.
The glacier north of Langtang Lirung can be seen intact Tuesday, and imagery from Wednesday shows a large section missing. Planet Labs; Landsat 9 via USGS
Basanta Raj Adhikari, director of the Center for Disaster Studies at Tribhuvan University in Nepal, called the incident “very unprecedented, very huge in size.”
“We haven’t thought that such a scale of disaster could happen in that area,” he added.
