Nepal resumes flood rescue, seeks technical help and billions of dollars

KATHMANDU – Nepal resumed search and rescue work on Aug 29 after a brief weather-related suspension as the authorities searched for nearly 3,000 missing people following a devastating flood that killed hundreds and tore through a region bordering Tibet.

The impoverished Himalayan nation of 30 million people will also need about US$4 billion (S$5.1 billion) to US$5 billion to rebuild after the destruction caused by the Aug 26 flood, the finance minister told Reuters.

Triggered by a glacier collapse, the huge torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris hurtled through mountain river systems on Aug 26, killing at least 626 people in Nepal and seven in Tibet as it swallowed buildings, bridges and power stations in its path.

Nearly 3,000 people are still missing – about 2,426 in Nepal and at least 558 in Tibet’s Gyirong County – including at least 540 foreigners, many of them Hindu pilgrims from India.

Decomposed, unrecognisable bodies to be buried

Search and rescue operations were temporarily halted because of rain and fog but resumed later in the afternoon, a police officer in hard-hit Rasuwa district said.

“Helicopters are flying and the operation resumed following some improvement in weather,” he said, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The authorities had also suspended rescue work on Aug 28 when a lake, formed across the Nepal-China border after the flood, began overflowing into Nepal’s Lhende Khola and Trishuli rivers.

By Aug 29, the risk had eased and parts of the lake bed were visible, Chinese authorities and state broadcaster CCTV said. Satellite images suggested water was slowly draining from the lake, gradually reducing its size, CCTV reported.

The lake is one of two upstream of the flood zone being monitored by Nepal. Flood risks will persist until both have fully drained, an official warned.

Three days after the disaster, the authorities said some bodies now being recovered had decomposed beyond recognition. They would be buried after legal formalities because of health risks and a fear of epidemics.

“DNA samples will be collected, and the bodies will be buried in an open space,” the Chitwan district administration said in a notice.

Families search for the missing

In Kathmandu, families of those missing gathered outside Maharajgunj Medical Campus, where some bodies were taken. Many were trying to identify relatives through photographs of the bodies brought there, with the pictures pasted or strung on the gate and boundary walls.

In Malaysia, families of 91 citizens listed as “uncontactable” across Tibet and Nepal also waited for news.

Manivannan Rethinam, a representative for some of them, urged the foreign ministry to establish a communication channel for faster updates, saying the lack of information was “profoundly painful” for relatives awaiting news.

Malaysia’s foreign ministry said search and rescue and verification efforts were continuing.

For survivors, the ordeal is far from over as they face the task of rebuilding their lives.

Saraswati Ghale, 43, said her home was destroyed in the flood. She recalled scrambling uphill as the water struck, shaking the ground “like there was an earthquake”.

“I don’t have anything (left)... I am saved but who knows how things will pan out,” she said.

Nepal’s Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle told Reuters that Kathmandu’s initial estimate was that it will need between US$4 billion and US$5 billion to rebuild.

“This is just an estimate. Loss and damage is being assessed,” he said.

Technical team heads to Nepal

Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said the country did not need help with search and rescue operations but required assistance in rescuing people stuck in tunnels, opening transport and communication lines in places where bridges were destroyed, identification of dead bodies, DNA testing and storing bodies for longer durations.

“We have already made requests for such specialised services and technical assistance in areas where we don’t have enough expertise and technical know-how,” he told Reuters late on Aug 28.

A team of Indian tunnel experts arrived in Nepal on Aug 29, he said, while China’s Xinhua news agency reported Beijing had dispatched five tunnel experts to support rescue efforts, with four more due to join them.

India has already sent three flights carrying 60 tonnes of relief supplies, including blankets, medicines, and food.

It has also offered its disaster response force and prefabricated bridges along with technical teams to help restore connectivity, the foreign ministry said.

The authorities in China have also been racing to trace more than 500 missing people after the flood.

Rescuers reached the worst-hit Gyirong border crossing complex on Aug 28, using ropes to navigate forests and cliffs after roads leading to the site were destroyed.

In bleak, rainy conditions on the morning of Aug 29, more than 50 rescue workers combed through the rubble of boulders and mud, looking for signs of life and calling out for survivors, CCTV reported.

Surveillance camera footage from the crossing showed huge torrents of water and debris engulfing buildings there when the flood hit, as people tried to flee. REUTERS