Nepal President Appeals for Concrete Climate Justice Measures After Landslides and Floods

Nepal's president has used a national day of mourning to demand concrete action on climate justice after landslides and floods killed at least 1,398 people in Nepal and China and left 5,515 missing.

Ram Chandra Paudel said the disaster had exposed the extreme vulnerability of the Himalayan environment and delivered a powerful warning about the growing risks of global warming and climate change. He urged the international community to listen to ecologically vulnerable countries, including Nepal, and take effective steps to ensure climate justice.

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This disaster has revealed the extreme vulnerability of the Himalayan environment and become a powerful warning that the risks caused by global warming and climate change are increasing.

Paudel visited a relief camp in the badly affected northern district of Nuwakot and promised families who had lost relatives that rescue and search operations would continue. Prime Minister Balendra Shah plans to attend the United Nations General Assembly in the United States on the 24th to highlight Nepal's vulnerability to the climate crisis and seek stronger international action.

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The international community must not only listen to the voices of ecologically vulnerable countries, including Nepal, but also take concrete and effective action to ensure climate justice.

Rescue teams are focusing on the Chilime, Upper Trishuli 3A and Upper Trishuli 3B tunnels at hydropower construction sites. Nepal Army rescuers told Reuters that about 121 of around 900 missing workers could be trapped inside the tunnels. Oxygen has been supplied through pipes to the Upper Trishuli tunnels, and new equipment has arrived to help clear access routes.

Disaster official Dharma Raj Upreti said the Chilime site was receiving particular attention because it contained a cafeteria, accommodation and food-distribution facilities where people may have been trapped. Lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane said four of six people missing from the Chilime plant could still be alive. Three workers, including one Chinese and two Nepali nationals, and one Nepali woman were rescued on the 5th.

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We are focusing particularly on the Chilime hydropower plant site because there was a cafeteria, accommodation and food distribution there, so we believe people may be trapped.