Rescuers have been racing to find hundreds of people still missing, including more than 30 British nationals, two days after a catastrophic flash flood struck the Himalayan border between Nepal and Tibet.
Nepali police said on Friday morning that the country’s death toll had risen to 469 from 390 a day earlier. Meanwhile, China has not updated its report of three deaths in Tibet.
Together, the two countries have said that more than 1,500 people are missing, and rescuers are under further pressure as authorities warn an overflowing lake formed after the disaster could trigger further flooding.
On Thursday, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said that 517 foreign nationals were out of contact.
Two teenagers, a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, are among the 33 British nationals believed to be unaccounted for.
An Essex nurse said his relatives were “swept away” by the floods, as he launched a fundraiser to support those affected by the disaster.
Rajendra Pudasaini, president of the Non-Resident Nepali Association UK, said Nepal was witnessing an “irreplaceable loss”, adding that the country was “paying the price for global warming”.
The nurse, who works at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, said: “My wife’s auntie and uncle, and their granddaughter and her husband are missing, and my godson as well.
“They’re gone. The speed the water came, they couldn’t be saved; they were just swept away. The town and the villages were swept away; it’s a tragic thing.”
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on Thursday evening that the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) crisis centre was working “around the clock” to help Britons affected by the floods.
In a post on social media, Miliband said: “We’ve offered an initial £5 million to help with the response to the effort in Nepal.
“And indeed we’ve also made an offer in my conversation with the foreign minister from Nepal this morning of search and rescue and other help should the Nepalese need it.”
On Thursday the King said he and the Queen were “heartbroken” and sent their “most profound sympathy” to those affected.
Risk of further flooding
Nepali and Chinese authorities warned of further flooding from a lake that formed upstream after Wednesday’s disaster and was already overflowing, urging people in potentially affected areas to move to safer ground.
China has warned that a barrier lake formed at the confluence of the Tsogyal and Purupqiangzangbu rivers is overflowing and could burst.
China’s Ministry of Water Resources said on Thursday that the lake held around 2 million cubic meters of water and was expected to receive another 3 million cubic meters over the next three days.
Nepal’s army said that a team was sent to the border point to inspect the Bhotekoshi River amid the potential of more floods.
Thousands of people have been evacuated
The NDRRMA said on Friday that 3,253 people had been airlifted by helicopter from the country’s disaster area.
Flood survivors, including injured people, were taken to Kathmandu and other locations.
Foreigners from multiple countries were among the missing, many of them trekkers and pilgrims.
Nepali Army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet said that a team had been deployed Friday to the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project near the Nepal-China border following reports that people were trapped inside a tunnel.
“It is complicated to find the entry and exit points of the tunnel because everything has been covered by mud,” Basnet said. “Our first priority is rescuing the stranded people.”
Videos of the disaster showed floodwaters destroying buildings, bridges and vehicles as people ran in front of the stories-high torrent.
In the aftermath, broken concrete lay upended in expanses of brown mud that also caked buildings and buried streets.
Scientists who’ve studied satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier high in the Himalayan region had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it.
The rocks and melted water swelled the rivers in the valleys below, causing a torrent of water that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream.
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