Himalayan ‘tsunami’: Over 350 dead, 1.4K missing
A Filipino was reported to be among the more than a thousand people missing in the flash floods and landslides that occurred on the Nepal-Tibet border, where the confirmed death toll had reached at least 359 people as of Thursday.
The lone Filipino was on the initial record cited by the Nepal Tourism Board, though it was yet to be confirmed by the Philippine government at press time.
The tsunami-like rumble of water and mud struck villages and towns on the path of two rivers—Bhote Koshi and Trishuli—on Wednesday night.
A terrifying clip of surveillance video from the Chinese side of the frontier shows a massive wall of mud and debris crashing over a building several stories high on Wednesday morning, engulfing it as dozens of people ran for their lives below.
The surge swept away buses and cars like they were toys.
The US Geological Survey believes the disaster was caused by a glacial collapse that sent a flow of debris engulfing homes along the way.
According to the Nepal Tourism Board, its preliminary record as of 2:45 p.m. on Thursday (Philippine time) showed 644 travelers reported missing in the affected areas, including one Filipino.
The agency gave no further details about the missing Filipino, saying the information was still being verified and crosschecked with travel agencies and other local authorities.
In Manila, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) have started coordinating with officials in Nepal, as well as with the Filipino community, to determine the extent of the disaster’s impact on Filipinos, Palace press officer Claire Castro said.
Based on information from the DFA and Owwa, there are 128 Filipinos in Nepal, mostly women married to Nepalis. Among them are 18 overseas workers.
President Marcos on Thursday expressed his condolences to the victims of the disaster.
“The Philippines extends its deepest condolences to our friends in Nepal and to all those affected by the deadly flash flood yesterday,” Mr. Marcos said in a social media post.
“Our deepest sympathies go out to those who lost family, loved ones, and friends. Please accept our most heartfelt prayers for strength in this difficult time,” he added.
Wall of mud, debris
The Nepali police on Thursday said they had recovered 162 bodies, as rescue teams rushed to find more than 1,400 people still missing.
Another 823 people, including 579 Nepali and foreign tourists, remained out of contact in Nepal, according to the country’s disaster agency.
Across the border, Chinese state media said the “mudslide disaster” at the Gyirong Port in Tibet claimed three lives while 558 people, including 260 foreigners, were still missing.
Raju Bhadel, 56, a businessman in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, recounted receiving a call from his brother-in-law in distress.
“They were crying and said their entire house had been swept away. Three family members were rescued, but his brother is still missing,” he said.
Also at Nuwakot, teacher Manok Mishra witnessed “nine trucks being swept away by the floods, including people.”
‘Inland tsunami’
Rescuers waded through mud and sludge to look for survivors after floodwaters buried the lower floors of multistory buildings.
The foreigners out of contact included Indians, and others from Australia, Britain, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States, Nepal’s tourism board said.
Hiking company Himalayan Glacier told Agence France-Presse (AFP) 47 people from a group including two children were missing in Nepal.
The sudden rush of mud and debris was “like an inland tsunami, traveling nearly 170 kilometers down the Bhote Koshi valley into Central Nepal,” said environmental historian Ruth Gamble of La Trobe University in Australia.
“It is a popular route for international tourists traveling from Kathmandu to Lhasa,” she added.
Rasuwa, in the north of Nepal, was the first district to be affected. But deaths have been reported from seven Nepali districts in total as the floodwaters raged through to Chitwan in the south, on the border with India.
The Nepali Army was carrying out flights and had rescued scores of people, while others living near the river in danger zones had been told to relocate.
Tibet government officials mobilized nearly 800 emergency workers and 150 vehicles as well as sniffer dogs and speed boats to help the rescue efforts, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua said.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was dispatching emergency supplies including blankets, first aid kits, stretchers, and body bags.
Seismic event
The cause of the disaster was not immediately clear in the hours after it occurred early Wednesday, but the US Geological Survey said it was a glacial collapse that caused seismic activity and the “catastrophic” downstream impacts in Nepal and Tibet.
“This event was initially reported as a magnitude 4.4 earthquake,” it said.
“Additional analysis of nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves, and satellite imagery led to the determination that the seismic event was instead a glacial collapse and debris flow, and that no earthquake had occurred.”
Climate change is causing glaciers to melt worldwide, increasing the risks of glacial lake floods and glacial collapses.
Qianggong Zhang, head of climate and environmental risks at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, warned of the potential for a second flood.
“With a blockage still lodged upstream on the Nepal-China border river, authorities warn a second flood may occur,” he told AFP. —WITH A REPORT FROM AFP
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