Nepal and China resume flood rescue after lake threat eases, death toll tops 500

NUWAKOT, Nepal – Nepal and China resumed rescue operations that had been suspended briefly in the flood-hit Himalayas on Friday, August 28, after risks from an overflowing lake were found to be manageable, easing fears of fresh devastation.

The catastrophic flood on Wednesday, August 26, caused by a glacier collapse killed 547 people in Nepal and five in China’s Tibet, with almost 1,000 more missing in the two countries.

A huge torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris cascaded through Himalayan mountain river systems after the collapse, and also led to the formation of a lake where water continued to collect and rise.

Overflow sparks fresh panic

On Friday, the lake’s reservoir had topped 2.5 million cubic meters (90 million cubic feet) of water, up from the estimated 1.5-2 million cubic meters (50-70 million cubic feet) recorded a day earlier, before overflowing into the Lhende Khola river and then into the Trishuli, authorities and witnesses in Nepal said.

The overflow sparked panic and warnings from authorities in Nepal, leading to rescue operations being suspended for about three hours. The risk of the lake bursting had prompted all Chinese rescue personnel and vehicles to withdraw on the Chinese side as well and stand by in a safe area, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Both resumed rescue operations after the threat eased.

“By noon, as the risk posed by the upstream dammed lake was deemed manageable, rescue operations for the Gyirong mudslide disaster quickly resumed and were stepped up,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.

Nepal’s army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told Reuters that rescue operations had been temporarily halted after the flood alert, but it was found that the rise in the water level was only by about 2 feet (0.6 m).

Wednesday’s flood ripped through villages and valleys, destroying power stations, roads and bridges along a route that links Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet and is popular with trekkers and pilgrims. Of those missing, at least 540 are foreigners, many of them Hindu pilgrims from India headed to the holy Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet.

More than 90,000 people are estimated to be affected, the Red Cross said, adding that trucks with relief supplies were blocked after the barrier lake broke its banks.

China calls for stronger monitoring of glacier lakes

In Beijing, China’s Politburo met on Friday to direct rescue work, state media reported.

Authorities must “scientifically formulate search-and-rescue plans, make every effort to search for missing people from China and abroad,” the meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The meeting called for stronger monitoring of glacier lakes, landslide risks and barrier lakes, emergency aid to affected areas in Nepal, and closer international disaster cooperation.

China’s Premier Li Qiang, the country’s No. 2 official, arrived in the disaster-stricken area of Gyirong on Thursday afternoon, August 27, state-run Xinhua news agency said. The visit suggested Beijing was treating the disaster as a matter of the highest national priority.

Chinese rescuers had yet to reach the worst-hit site on the Chinese side of the border, the Gyirong border crossing, by Thursday evening, state media reports indicated, as crews worked to clear debris from the key access road leading to the area.

Dramatic footage on Wednesday showed enormous torrents of muddy water and debris tearing through structures in the border crossing area within seconds and engulfing people trying to flee.

The tally of missing in Tibet’s Gyirong County was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals. So far, just five people have been confirmed dead on the Chinese side.

‘All of our people are gone’

Earlier, Nepalese rescue teams used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys, while emergency services – some using sniffer dogs – recovered dozens of bodies swept down into the plains.

Dibga Tamang was among the last people rescued from Rasuwa on Thursday, airlifted along with three others to an army camp in Nuwakot.

“All of our people have gone. They are dead,” Tamang said. “I have no one left waiting for me. Everything and everyone is gone. The end.”

A large number of people arrived at an army base in the area seeking information about missing and dead family members. Bodies were brought into the barracks and lists of rescued people were posted outside to help families find information.

Buildings ‘wiped out like toothpicks’

Around the world, relatives of those missing were desperate for information about their whereabouts.

Sneha Sudhir was one of 10 women whose husbands had set out from Nepal on a trek to Tibet’s Mount Kailash when the region was struck by disaster.

The men, all from northern Virginia, are among dozens of Americans missing.

“Where are they?” Sudhir said tearfully from her home in Chantilly, Virginia, on Thursday.

Sudhir said the women were supporting each other and reaching out to officials, politicians and friends and family in the United States and India, hoping for word.

“Everybody is taking turns in shedding their tears, wiping it off and getting back to work,” she said.

President Donald Trump said the US had offered support to Nepal.

“Nobody’s ever seen anything quite like that, where very powerful, strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks. It’s a terrible thing. We are sending aid, and we’ve spoken to the leadership, and we let them know anything they want, they’ll have.”

Nepal declines foreign rescue help

While offers of assistance are pouring in, Nepal said it does not need help from other nations in search and rescue missions.

A South Korean rapid response team is already in Kathmandu but has not been deployed because the Nepali government does not have a plan to accept foreign rescue yet, according to the foreign ministry in Seoul.

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. – Rappler.com