Nepal flood toll hits 1,259 as families hold rites for missing kin

Nepal's flash flood death toll climbed sharply as rescuers pressed on and families began symbolic last rites for the missing. Rising river levels, cross-border relief efforts and glacier worries have deepened the sense of a long national emergency.

In Short

• Rescue teams searched difficult terrain for a ninth day across battered valleys
• Symbolic funerals began as many families lost hope of finding relatives
• Fresh rainfall upstream raised concern over Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river levels

Nepal's death toll from the flash floods triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26 rose to 1,259 on Thursday, while 5,083 people remained missing, according to official data. As rescue operations continued for a ninth day, families in some of the worst-hit areas began performing symbolic funeral rites for relatives who have not been traced for days.

The floods devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal, while concerns remained over rising river levels as upstream areas of the Bhotekoshi River continued to receive rainfall. Nepal's foreign minister described the disaster as a "Himalayan Tsunami", even as India, China and others continued rescue and relief efforts and schoolchildren across Nepal donated part of their pocket money to help those affected.

According to data released by Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the death toll from the Bhotekoshi River floods climbed to 1,259 on Thursday, with 5,083 people still missing.

In Paharebesi village of Rasuwa district, residents have started preparing to perform funeral rites for missing relatives after receiving no information about them for eight days, Onlinekhabar reported. In other flood-hit areas too, families have begun using effigies made of kusha grass to perform the final rites of relatives who remain untraced, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Families said they were turning to symbolic funerals because there was little hope of recovering all those missing and because identifying bodies had become increasingly difficult, the newspaper said.

According to the authority, 355 bodies have been recovered from Chitawan district, 218 from Nawalparasi East, 212 from Nawalparasi West, including 18 recovered from India and handed over to Nawalparasi West, and 177 from Nuwakot. It said 127 bodies were recovered from Rasuwa district, 72 from Gorkha, 60 from Dhading and 38 from Tahanu.

On the Chinese side, the death toll from the flash flood that struck Gyirong county in Tibet near the Nepal border rose to 21, with 541 others still missing as of Wednesday.

Saraswati Bishta, a technician at the Flood Forecasting Division of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, said that as upstream areas of the Bhotekoshi River were continuously receiving rainfall on Thursday, water levels in the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers, as well as smaller rivers and rivulets flowing through Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, could rise. She urged people living in nearby areas and downstream of the river to remain vigilant.

Bishta said there was a middle-level risk of flash floods in rivers in several districts, mainly in the hilly region, including Taplejung, Panchthar, Terhathum, Dhankuta, Sankhuwasabha, Okhaldhunga, Udaypur, Chitwan, Gorkha, Tanahu, Lamjung, Manang, Mustang, Myagdi, Kaski, Syangja, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. She added that rivers in mountain regions including Kalikot, Humla, Jumla, Dailekh, Darchula, Baitadi and Kalikot districts were also swelling, creating some flash flood risk.

Meanwhile, Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal on Thursday called the massive floods that caused widespread devastation in the country a "Himalayan Tsunami" and thanked neighbouring countries and the international community for their support and solidarity during the difficult period.

His remarks came days after an interview with a private television channel in which he named China, the US and India as the world's three largest greenhouse gas emitters and said they have a "historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal". On Thursday, while expressing gratitude to neighbouring countries, friendly nations and the international community for their support and solidarity, Khanal said that "Nepal will continue close cooperation and collaboration with the international community in this regard."

As international and domestic assistance continued to come in, schoolchildren across Nepal donated part of their snack money or pocket money to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for the welfare of those affected by the floods.

Joint rescue teams led by the Nepal Army continued search and rescue efforts on Thursday, the ninth day of operations. The Kathmandu Post reported that the floods had changed the landscape of the valleys of Rasuwa and Nuwakot, with helicopter pilots relying on their own discipline and judgement to navigate steep terrain because riverbanks and familiar landmarks had disappeared.

The tunnel rescue team from India is working with the Nepali army in the rescue operation at Chilime Power House. The Indian envoy visited Syabrubesi, the base of the Indian tunnel rescue team, on Thursday and said that even though conditions were tough, both Indian and Nepali teams would continue their work "undeterred." The envoy said the teams had already explored 100 metres inside the tunnel using special equipment. "They plan to bring in heavy equipment to further advance into the tunnel," he said.

China has rescued 114 Nepali nationals who were stranded in Tibet after the August 26 flash flood in Rasuwa and arranged their safe exit to Nepal through the Tatopani border, according to a Home Ministry statement issued on Thursday. They will be taken to Kathmandu and then to their respective destinations by the Nepali authorities. The ministry said 2,500 Nepalis had already returned to Nepal from Tibet, while 1,400 were still waiting for repatriation.

In a related development, a senior Chinese climate official warned that glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau were likely to become more unstable, which could lead to more collapses and related disasters similar to last week's deadly flash flood at the Tibet-Nepal border. "Over the past 60 years, the glacier area on the Tibetan Plateau has shrunk by around 24 per cent, with around 7,000 small glaciers disappearing completely," said Gao Rong, deputy director of China's National Climate Centre. "Looking ahead, the structural stability of glaciers across the Tibetan Plateau will decline further. Glacial disasters are likely to become more frequent and could amplify in destruction and reach through cascading effects," Gao was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.

With the death toll continuing to rise, thousands still missing, weather risks persisting and rescue teams working in difficult conditions, Nepal remains in the grip of a disaster that has left deep devastation across several districts and affected people on both sides of the border.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends