More than 390 dead, 1,500 missing in Nepal and Tibet after Himalayan floods

More than 390 bodies have been recovered, and more than 1,500 people are missing across Nepal and China's Tibet region after a huge collapse of mud and rock into a Himalayan river triggered catastrophic flooding across local towns and valleys, authorities have said.

Rescue teams waded through mud on Thursday, searching for the missing, as authorities in Nepal said at least 389 people have been killed there.

At least three people have died in the neighbouring Tibet region.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited the mudslide site in Tibet on Thursday afternoon to "guide emergency rescue and relief work" a day after the disaster, state media reported.

Nepal's Department of Tourism said in figures released on Thursday that 668 tourists from 34 countries had been out of contact since Wednesday morning, most of them on trekking expeditions.

Among them are at least 177 from India, 90 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom, and 25 from Canada. Beijing's foreign ministry also said 100 Chinese nationals were among the missing in Nepal.

In Tibet's Gyirong county, 558 people are reported missing, including 260 foreign nationals, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Search and rescue operations are proving to be a "massive challenge" as simply "getting to the affected areas ... to try and recover the survivors" is proving to be extremely difficult, because the roads and bridges there have suffered extensive damage, said Al Jazeera's Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.

A mix of government and private helicopters have "been drafted to fly into the areas to try to bring as many survivors as possible" to hospitals to receive treatment for injuries that doctors say include broken ribcages and skin burns, said Fernandez.

Rescuers in Nepal have deployed helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands of people cut off in a rugged mountainous area popular with trekkers and pilgrims travelling between Lhasa in Tibet and Kathmandu.

Video footage from Wednesday, verified by news agencies, showed rapid torrents of water and debris sweeping away dozens of people at a border crossing in Gyirong, while downstream in Nepal, homes, roads, and power infrastructure were destroyed.

Nepal's disaster authority said on Thursday that a lake, which formed at the site where the floods occurred, was rising and at risk of bursting.

Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said helicopters were dropping tents, food, and medicine, provided by neighbouring India, into the hardest-hit districts. More than 5,000 army and police rescue personnel have joined the rescue effort, he said.

On Friday, Nepal News reported that the army had rescued 350 workers and residents trapped in a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli hydropower project, working in poor weather and high river flows.

India evacuated thousands of people from the states bordering Nepal, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, as the floods threatened the Gandak River Basin.

Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah left by road for Bidur in one of the worst-affected districts of Nuwakot to assess the flood situation, his office said on social media.

Early reports from Nepalese officials suggested an earthquake in the area may have caused the lower section of a glacier to collapse, triggering the flash floods.

However, the US Geological Survey noted that the seismic event, initially recorded as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake, was actually the seismic energy generated by the sudden collapse of glacial rock and ice, followed by a huge debris flow.

Preliminary satellite imagery analysis by Planet Labs indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered a debris-laden surge down the Lhende River, approximately 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between Nepal and China.

In the affected valleys, thick mud swathed homes, trees, and vehicles, while aerial footage showed collapsed houses, submerged cars, and a metallic bridge washed away by the torrents.

Nepal's National Planning Commission and National Statistics Office are launching a study into the extent of the damage inflicted on the economy. The flood struck 15 hydropower projects and shut down an estimated 431 megawatts of generating capacity, with heavy damage to the Rasuwagadhi, Chilime and Sanjen plants.

"There is devastation everywhere we look," said Tula Bahadur BK, a healthcare worker in Rasuwa. "The settlements next to the river have been completely swept away. Five of my own relatives are missing."

Others caught in the disaster were on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar, high-altitude sites in Tibet revered by Hindus, Buddhists, and followers of other faiths.

## International response

The US Department of State announced it was dispatching a disaster response adviser and providing $500,000 in emergency aid.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described the flooding as "devastating", adding that Canadian officials were monitoring the situation closely.

Tom Fletcher, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, announced that $2m will be allocated from the UN's Global Emergency Fund CERF for Nepal relief efforts.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had earlier confirmed that UN teams were delivering emergency supplies and support staff to Nepal's affected communities.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted that gathering clear information from the remote area remained challenging due to limited local infrastructure and resources. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday that Canberra would give $3.6m in aid to communities hit by the flooding along the Nepal-China border and send extra consular staff to the area.

The flood highlights Nepal's growing exposure to climate hazards, Sunil Acharya, a climate and public policy specialist, told Al Jazeera.

"It is not simply an unpredictable natural hazard. It is a brutal example of what it means to be living on the front line of climate crisis," said Acharya, speaking from Kathmandu.

Nepal can only do so much to prevent such disasters, he said, adding that the government does not have enough resources to deal with the climate crisis on its own.

"International cooperation in limiting greenhouse gases so that the global warming doesn't cause further damage like this is very imperative."