Kathmandu, Sep 2: The death toll from Nepal’s devastating flash floods crossed 1,200 on Wednesday, as rescuers battled rain and debris to trace those believed to be trapped in the tunnels along the course of the Bhotekoshi river and underground powerhouses.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the disaster’s link to climate change must be strongly raised with the international community, as symbolic funerals were held by families of locals still missing after last week’s flash floods.
According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the death toll has reached 1,204 as more bodies were recovered from eight districts affected by the flood, while 4,216 people remain missing a week after the floods devastated towns and villages in the country’s northern and central parts.
The security forces have recovered 348 dead bodies from Chitawan district, 217 from Nawalparasi East, 202 from Nawalparasi West, and 155 from Nuwakot. Similarly, 115 bodies were recovered from Rasuwa, 69 from Gorkha, 60 from Dhading and 38 from Tanahu.
Among the missing people, 583 are foreigners. The joint forces of security personnel including Nepal Army have so far rescued 11,993 people using helicopters and land route. Around 21,314 security personnel have been mobilised for the search and rescue operations.
The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal, leaving a trail of destruction and thousands of people missing.
According to Chinese officials, the death toll in the flash flood that struck Gyirong county in Tibet near the Nepal border has increased to 21, with 541 others still missing.
Nearly 100 Chinese nationals remain unaccounted for in Nepal, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.
Addressing the House of Representatives, PM Shah said the scale and nature of the disaster raised serious questions about the growing risks faced by people living in the Himalayan region due to climate change.
“According to experts, the flash flood in Bhotekoshi of Rasuwa district was caused by an ice-rock avalanche in the Himalayas. This incident shows the increasing risk the people of the mountain region have to bear with the occurrence of climate change,” he said.
“Therefore,” Shah stressed, “We need to present the fact in a strong manner to the international community that the disaster is linked to climate change.”
There is a global contribution behind climate change. And the responsibility to manage and minimise its effects also rests with the global community, the prime minister said.
According to Nepal Police, postmortem and legal identification procedures have been completed for 1,113 bodies, while 95 have been handed over to relatives.
Details of 911 unidentified bodies have been uploaded on the Nepal Police website to help families identify missing relatives.
Families of those missing are creating funeral effigies and performing their final rites. Dozens of such effigies were cremated in a mass funeral at Pashupati Aryaghat on Wednesday.
Rescue teams comprising the Nepali Army, Armed Police Force, foreign technical experts and project employees have been searching the tunnels but have so far failed to locate the missing workers.
Ganesh Karki, former president of the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN), said rescue efforts have also been slowed by difficulties in transporting equipment and even locating tunnel entrances.
“The material carried by the river has reached over the tunnels,” he said, adding that it has become difficult even to determine the exact location of the entrances.
Data released on Tuesday by IPPAN showed 947 people from various hydropower projects remained unaccounted for. IPPAN said it was not yet clear how many were trapped inside underground powerhouses or tunnels and how many had been swept away by the floods, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung said the state was using all available resources to rescue those who may still be alive.
More than 557 people are reported to be missing from the 216-megawatt Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project alone. At the 60-megawatt Upper Trishuli-3A project, 42 people are believed to be trapped inside the underground powerhouse, the paper said.
At the 37-megawatt Upper Trishuli-3B project, 191 people are unaccounted for, while at the 111-megawatt Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project, 93 people are missing.
Forty-one people are feared trapped at the 20-megawatt Langtang Khola Hydropower Project.
Rescue teams are also moving families from high-risk areas to safer locations, clearing roads blocked by debris and coordinating relief and search operations with local authorities and residents.
However, continuing rain is disrupting search and rescue operations in Rasuwa and Nuwakot.
Meteorologist Rojan Lamichhane of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said moderate rain was possible in Bhotekoshi flood-affected areas, including Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading, on Wednesday afternoon.
The department recorded 60.2 mm of rain at Nosyam Pati in Sindhupalchok in the past 12 hours, the highest rainfall recorded during the period.
Heavy rain is also possible at a few places in the mountainous areas of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces on Wednesday night, authorities said.
The weather has further complicated efforts to reach missing workers believed to be trapped at hydropower projects along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers.
Addressing the Parliament, Prime Minister Shah said the government had mobilised security forces immediately after receiving information about the flash floods and kept helicopters on standby for search, rescue and relief operations.
He said there was “no question” of refusing international assistance given the magnitude of the crisis, adding that Nepal had coordinated with the international community from the beginning.
Countries including India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the US, Australia, Qatar, Switzerland, the UK, Japan and Singapore have provided assistance, he said.
International development partners, including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, European Union and United Nations, have also pledged support, while expert teams from India, China and South Korea are being mobilised for rescue operations at hydropower sites.
The floods have disrupted around 400 MW of hydropower capacity, while 40 km of blacktopped roads in the Rasuwa-Nuwakot area have been destroyed and another 16 km partially damaged. Forty-two suspension bridges and 31 motorable bridges have also been damaged.
More than NPR 7 billion has been collected in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund so far, Shah said. (PTI)
