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China warns of new natural dams after devastating flood
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Disasters & Emergencies

China warns of new natural dams after devastating flood

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Official statement Ongoing story
  • China warned that landslides could block the river again along the Nepal-Tibet border after last week’s devastating flood.
  • The first natural dam, which held about 2.2 million cubic meters of water, has fully drained, while a second formation has also begun releasing water.
  • Nepal reported 987 recovered bodies and 3,916 missing people, while separate Nepalese and Chinese tallies put total deaths above 1,000.

China has warned that the danger has not ended along the Nepal-Tibet border, where landslides could form new natural dams after last week’s devastating flood.

The Ministry of Water Resources said satellite images showed small landslides on both sides of the river downstream from the first natural dam formed after the disaster. Water is currently flowing normally, but material from the slopes could still fall into the channel and block it again.

Authorities are also monitoring the Nepalese area where a glacier collapse triggered the disaster. Water that collected in the impact crater has almost completely drained, although nearby glaciers remain at risk of further landslides.

The first natural dam held about 2.2 million cubic meters of water and temporarily forced rescuers to suspend part of their search operations because of fears of a sudden release. A second landslide formed another dam about 2.8 kilometers downstream between Saturday night and Sunday, prompting the preventive relocation of rescue workers before it too began to drain.

Work continues to restore access to the Gyirong border crossing, which the flood destroyed. About 800 meters of road still needed to be reopened. Nepalese authorities raised the number of recovered bodies to 987 and the missing to 3,916. Separate tallies from Nepal and China put the total death toll above 1,000.

About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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