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Tibet rescue amid floods
Rescuers in China’s Tibet autonomous region faced rugged terrain as they tried to reach the disaster zone after the Nepal-Tibet floods, with Chinese state media showing the difficulty of getting to affected areas.
“killed more than 500 people, with over a thousand still missing”
France 24 said the flash flood on the border of Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday killed more than 500 people and left over a thousand still missing, while rescue teams struggled with remote Himalayan conditions and the risk of further flooding from upstream lakes formed by debris.
The same France 24 report said police in Nepal on Friday put the death toll at at least 552, while Chinese authorities on Friday raised the death toll in Tibet from three people to five.
France 24 also quoted glaciologist Simon Cook of the University of Dundee warning that the barrier lake was “just loose debris holding back presumably many million cubic metres of water,” and that the worry was it could overtop or be overpowered.
In parallel, the CNN report said footage from Chinese state media showed rescuers facing rugged terrain to reach the disaster zone in Tibet, as videos from the Nepali Army showed dramatic rescues from a flooded hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa.
Barrier lake fears, then drain
The Press Insider reported that a barrier lake in Tibet that China warned could burst began overflowing on Friday, forcing authorities to suspend rescue operations in areas devastated by Wednesday’s flash flood.
It quoted Nepal Police saying, “Information has been received that a water dam has burst again on the Tibetan side,” and said helicopter operations in Rasuwa were suspended for 90 minutes as residents and rescue workers moved uphill.
The Press Insider added that CCTV said the lake upstream of the Gyirong border crossing had begun overflowing after its volume exceeded 2.5 million cu. m, raising the risk of another flash flood or mudslide.
After the overflow, the Press Insider said rescue operations later resumed on both sides of the border and that CCTV said the lake’s level had fallen by about 10 meters from its early Thursday peak.
GBC Ghana Online reported that rescue and recovery operations along the remote Nepal-China border resumed after a temporary halt, saying the barrier lake had begun to gradually drain, dropping its water level by about 10 meters and reducing the risk of a secondary flash flood.
Casualties, missing, and aid
As the rescue effort continued across the Nepal-Tibet border region, ABC News said the death toll rose to at least 750 people as of Sunday, with at least 734 bodies recovered in Nepal and 2,498 people still missing.
“We have activated from the State Department $3.6 million in emergency humanitarian assistance”
ABC News also said China’s Xinhua reported at least 16 people confirmed killed and 546 people still missing on the Chinese side, while State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz that “We have activated from the State Department $3.6 million in emergency humanitarian assistance.”
The BBC reported that Nepal’s prime minister’s office said tunnel rescue efforts at the Trishuli-3A hydropower site had been “intensified” and that a joint team of 90 people had been deployed, including armed forces, police, and rescuers with trained dogs.
BBC also said the number of bodies recovered since Wednesday had increased to 794 as of 17:45 local time on Sunday, while the National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Authority said 781 people had been killed and 2,502 remained missing.
In parallel, EL PAÍS reported that China raised the death toll to seven and put the number of missing at 554, and it quoted Liu Maolin of the Chinese rescue team describing the scene as “The buildings within the affected area have been virtually wiped out.”