Nepal and China report 1,384 deaths 12 days after devastating floods

Twelve days after devastating floods and landslides struck the Himalayas, authorities in Nepal and China’s Tibet region put the combined death toll at 1,384. Emergency teams are still searching for more than 5,500 missing people on both sides of the border.

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported 1,341 deaths, slightly down from the 1,344 reported the previous day. Authorities attributed the fluctuation to the logistical difficulty of forensic work and the continuing count of partial human remains recovered from the debris.

The number of missing people in Nepal rose to 4,996, including at least 589 foreign nationals and two Spaniards. Identification remains a major challenge. The Nepalese government has so far returned 98 bodies to their families.

In Tibet, where a mud-and-rock avalanche struck on Aug. 26, authorities reported 43 deaths and 519 people still missing. Yet rescue hopes have revived after four people were found alive in recent days. On Saturday, teams rescued 64-year-old Chandrika Shrestha after she survived 11 days buried beneath thick mud inside her home in the market area of Betrawati, in Nuwakot.

Earlier, rescuers pulled a Chinese citizen alive from a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant in Rasuwa after 11 days trapped underground. Two other workers were freed on Friday after spending 10 days buried in a tunnel at the nearby Trishuli 3A plant. Nepal has deployed 21,465 army, police, and armed-force personnel. They have helped 13,104 people reach safety, treated 6,075 injured people, and housed 3,652 displaced residents in 39 temporary shelters.