Nepal flood death toll crosses 1,000, rescuers reach remote areas

KATHMANDU – The death toll from Nepal’s flood crossed 1,000 on Sept 1 as rescuers used heavy machinery, helicopters and excavators to reach the thousands still missing, nearly a week after the catastrophic Himalayan disaster left a trail of destruction across towns and valleys.

Specialised rescue teams from China, India and Nepal built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects in the Himalayas, using excavators to rescue close to 300 workers trapped inside tunnels.

The collapse of a glacier on Aug 26 sent a deluge of ice, rock and mud sweeping through the impoverished nation’s region bordering China.

At least 639 people remain trapped in several devastated hydropower stations that have become the focus of rescue efforts, the country’s disaster management authority said on Sept 1.

The total confirmed death toll rose to 1,003, with about 4,000 people still missing, including 590 foreign nationals from 39 countries.

“Thousands of citizens have lost their homes, families, loved ones and property,” Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a late-night social media post on Aug 31.

“The government understands the immense pain they are enduring.”

The calamity poses a massive challenge for his six-month-old government. Over 11,000 people have been rescued across the affected region while power and communication lines had been restored in some areas, he said, promising support for those displaced.

More than 9,200 personnel were deployed in the affected areas, coordinating the search and rescue of the injured, assisting in the management of bodies, opening blocked roads and conducting emergency treatment, the army said.

“We did not have the time to grab anything before fleeing,” said a female survivor from the hard-hit Rasuwa district, who said she walked to Nuwakot with scores of villagers who survived.

“What we were wearing is the only (set) of clothes we have. And even they are wet from rain.”

Rescue teams had managed to restore road networks to Nuwakot, one of the worst-affected districts, facilitating rescue operations and distribution of relief material, Shah said.

Foreign help

Aid worth more than US$42 million (S$53.4 million) has poured into the country after the disaster, Shah said, and the government expected the contributions to increase.

In China, rescue teams worked through the night to reopen access to the Nepali border, on a steep mountain gorge with unstable cliffs on one side and fast-flowing river channels on the other.

Beijing will send DNA testing experts to disaster-hit areas at the Nepal-China border, as well as a second batch of relief supplies later on Sept 1, its Foreign Ministry said, adding that equipment would include drones and water purification.

South Korea, nine of whose nationals were working at a hydropower project and are missing, also said it will send a 44-member emergency relief team to support search-and-rescue operations in the Rasuwa region.

Nepal last week turned down foreign involvement in general search and rescue, but said it needed specialised services and advanced technological support, including life-detecting machines, large refrigerators and Bailey bridges.

Neighbours India and China have led foreign assistance, and the US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, European Union countries and the UAE have also contributed.

Rescue efforts focus on hydropower stations

Shah said 279 workers had so far been rescued from hydropower projects, where the authorities estimated that close to 1,000 people were trapped.

Rescue teams drained water from tunnel heads and used rock breakers to make entry paths into the tunnels, Nepal’s army said, as troops tried to reach those still believed to be trapped inside.

“Our first rescue observation at Trishuli Hydro Power plant shows that it is not humanly possible to go into the tunnel,” Asish Gurung, a mountain guide helping in the tunnel rescue, told Reuters from Haku village in Rasuwa district.

“We need machines like bulldozers and excavators. There are two of them here now. One is not functioning and the other is being repaired. There may be about 500 people trapped inside,” he said.

There has been a boom in hydropower projects in Nepal since the turn of the century as the mountainous country has sought to take advantage of its Himalayan water resources to address chronic domestic power shortages and exploit prospects for selling electricity to southern neighbour India.

Hydropower projects in Nepal’s mountains need tunnels to carry water through the steep terrain, allowing developers to exploit the sharp elevation drop between Himalayan rivers and powerhouses to generate electricity.

China blames global warning

An Australian hiker who went missing after the flood was located after she made contact with the Australian embassy on Aug 29, Australian media reported.

Cara Severino, 26, was trekking in the Langtang area when the flood hit and said in a statement that she survived because of the “amazing people” she was with at a national park.

Shah said the catastrophic event signalled the growing risks that the Himalayan region faces.

“The region must therefore remain vigilant. The time has come for us to strongly raise before the international community the disasters we are experiencing as a consequence of climate change,” he said in his post.

Last week’s flood was “caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming”, China’s state broadcaster said on Aug 31. REUTERS