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, 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.
