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Glacier Collapse, Tunnel Focus
Nepal and Tibet faced a major humanitarian crisis after a glacier collapse sent a catastrophic flood roaring through Tibet and parts of Nepal on August 26, with the surge sweeping south through Nepal’s Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts.
“More than 900 people have died, and nearly 5,000 people are missing across Nepal and Tibet”
Nepali authorities said on Monday that 903 people had died in the floods and 4,247 were missing, while Chinese authorities reported 16 people were killed in Tibet’s Gyirong County and 546 were missing.
Among those missing, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 933 workers were stationed at hydropower projects and were believed to be trapped beneath mud and rock debris in about half a dozen hydropower project tunnels.
Raja Ram Basnet, the spokesperson for the Nepal army, told Reuters that "A large amount of debris has been deposited and that is posing us a big challenge to open the tunnels," and the BBC reported that a controlled blast was carried out at the Trishuli 3A hydropower site at about 2am on Monday to open up access.
The BBC also said rescue teams had used drills to break through into the upper part of a mud-swamped tunnel and began pumping air and sending in a camera at Trishuli 3A in Nepal’s Rasuwa District, while nearly 300 workers trapped in these tunnels had so far been rescued.
Families, Hope, and Warnings
In Kathmandu, Nepal, CBS News reported that rescuers were still searching Monday after a 6-year-old girl was pulled from mud-covered rubble, fueling hope that more of the 4,200 people still listed as missing could be found alive.
CBS News also quoted Samarth Srivastav telling CBS News from Atlanta, "We're just trying to hope for good news now," after his father Vivek was on the Nepal-Tibet border when the disaster struck last week.
NBC News said the State Department reported approximately 100 Americans were among the missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region, while it also quoted Ferrin Cole, an operations director at the U.S.-based Crisis Response International, saying working in mud "is actually pretty dangerous."
The BBC reported that Nepali authorities were blasting into hillsides to reach hundreds of workers feared missing in hydropower tunnels, and it added that fears included a critical window closing to rescue any underground survivors.
AP News described families searching for loved ones as the death toll continued to rise, with Mohan Kumar Dangi of IPPAN saying there’s an estimation of at least 500 of the 900 missing workers trapped in the tunnels.
Technology and Aid Delivery
As rescue efforts continued, the New York Times reported that officials and volunteers tested whether drones could deliver critical supplies across the Trishuli River, gathering on Saturday afternoon in Devighat, an area in the central Nepali town of Bidur.
“It could carry up to 220 pounds.”
The New York Times said the group tested a drone roughly the size of a large dining table that could carry up to 220 pounds, and it reported that a round trip took about three minutes while the payload included rice, instant noodles, clothing and sanitary pads.
The BBC reported that Nepal’s disaster agency said 191 survivors were rescued from tunnels at hydropower projects on Friday and a further 88 were rescued on Saturday, while it also described rescue teams from India, China and South Korea arriving for tunnel rescue operations.
AP News quoted Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria, saying "There is enough place for people to take refuge safely inside" the tunnels and that it was "a race for time though as people need food and water."
In parallel, Nepal warned of possible fresh flooding after water levels rose in the Bhotekoshi River, and NPR reported that flood warning notices were sent to people’s phones early Sunday as rescue crews worked to clear a major highway connecting Kathmandu to one of the areas worst hit by Wednesday’s floods.