Nepal has raised to more than 1,900 the number of people who continue to be missing after the gigantic flood that swept through several areas of the Himalayas near the border with China on Wednesday. Emergency teams continue to add names to the records as helicopters, military personnel, and rescue teams search for survivors among populations isolated by mud, landslides, and the destruction of roads and bridges. AP already places the Nepalese toll at almost 2,000 missing and raises the death toll to more than 570 in Nepal and Tibet as a whole.
The figure remains provisional and is changing rapidly. The official records opened by the National Authority for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management of Nepal (NDRRMA) continued to incorporate new cases reported by the administrations of different districts this Friday, while other people initially reported as missing later appeared classified as rescued, injured, or located safe.
More than 570 dead between Nepal and Tibet
The flood hit the Bhote Koshi basin in northern Nepal on Wednesday after a glacial collapse triggered a huge mass of water, ice, rocks, and sediments in the mountains.
The rise then advanced through different river courses and swept away towns, infrastructure, and hydroelectric projects in its path.
Associated Press counts more than 570 dead in the disaster, while Reuters placed this Friday the confirmed toll at least 547 dead in Nepal and five in Chinese Tibet. The differences respond to the timing of the update of each count and the pace at which the recovered bodies are identified.
The force of the current has transported bodies and debris for dozens and even hundreds of kilometers from the mountainous areas where the emergency began.
EFE had reported hours earlier that hundreds of the recovered bodies had still not been identified, complicating the cross-checking between the lists of the deceased and the missing.
Thousands of personnel search for survivors
Nepalese authorities have mobilized nearly 15,000 members of security and emergency forces, according to AP.
More than 3,700 people had been rescued since the onset of the catastrophe, many of them by helicopter because numerous roads and bridges have been destroyed or rendered unusable.
Access difficulties remain one of the main obstacles.
There are localities that can only be reached by air, while the teams work among large amounts of mud, debris from buildings, vehicles, and materials swept away by the current.
Reuters estimates that more than 90,000 people need humanitarian assistance due to the consequences of the floods.
Hundreds of foreigners among the missing
The tragedy also has an international dimension.
Numerous foreigners were in the region because the border area serves as a passage for travelers and pilgrims heading to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, in Tibet.
The balances of the last hours include missing persons from dozens of nationalities.
India concentrates one of the largest groups. There are also citizens from the United States, Ukraine, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, and various European countries among the people whose whereabouts are still being confirmed.
The Nepali registry continues to be updated based on information from provincial authorities, family members, and organizations present on the ground.
South Korea, for example, maintains nine missing workers and has requested Nepal to facilitate helicopter access to advance in their search.
Nepal rejects foreign rescue teams for now
Several countries have offered personnel and means to participate directly in the operation.
Nepal, however, has communicated that its own security forces can manage the search and rescue tasks for now, although it keeps open the possibility of receiving technical and humanitarian aid.
Among the countries that have offered support are India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
The Nepali government has made an official appeal to raise funds for the care of the affected and their subsequent rehabilitation. The Ministry of Home Affairs states that the floods have caused serious human and material losses in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, and Gorkha.
The risk of new floods remains
The emergency is not over.
The glacial detachment and materials swept away by the rise have generated new water damming in mountainous areas, which temporarily forced the suspension of some rescue operations due to fears of a second avalanche of water and sediments.
The authorities use satellite images and aerial observation to verify the evolution of those improvised lakes.
Reuters reports that operations could resume after technicians concluded that the immediate risk was manageable, although monitoring continues.
The disaster again shows the vulnerability of the Himalayas to phenomena associated with glaciers and high mountain lakes. The scientists cited by AP point to the accelerated warming of this region as a factor that increases the instability of glaciers and slopes, although the exact attribution of a specific episode requires further analysis.