600 Killed and More Than 2,000 Missing Following Devastating Floods in Nepal

Al-Taj News – An avalanche on Wednesday sent a massive torrent of rocks, ice, mud and debris surging through mountain river networks in the Himalayas, causing widespread flooding that killed more than 600 people in Nepal and China’s Tibet region, while more than 2,000 people remain missing.

Nepalese Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal told Reuters that his country needs foreign assistance in specialized and technical fields in which it lacks expertise, following the devastating floods, but does not need assistance with search and rescue operations.

The floods swept through areas near the Chinese border, destroying entire towns and damaging hydroelectric power stations.

The Kathmandu Post reported that India, China, the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had asked the government to allow their search and rescue teams to assist in the operation.

Khanal said Nepal needs foreign assistance in areas including rescuing people trapped inside tunnels, restoring transportation and communications services in areas where bridges were destroyed, identifying the bodies of the deceased, conducting DNA tests, and storing bodies for longer periods.

Late Friday, he said: “We have already submitted requests for such specialized services and technical assistance in areas where we do not have sufficient expertise and technical knowledge.”

Nepal asked its neighbors India and China to provide mobile prefabricated bridges to reopen transportation and communications routes in the disaster-hit area, where around 20 bridges were destroyed.

Earlier on Friday, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry had stated that Kathmandu was capable of managing the rescue efforts on its own for the time being and rejected foreign intervention.

In response to a question about his government’s position, Khanal said there was no need for assistance in the general search and rescue operations being carried out by Nepalese rescuers, adding: “We believe there is no need to repeat that.”

Nepalese rescue officials said many bodies had been swept away by the waters and were recovered from Chitwan and Nawalparasi in the plains, about 100 kilometers from the disaster site.

Khanal said: “More bodies are likely to be recovered from these places, where bodies have piled up in hospitals that lack refrigerators to store them.”

Nepalese officials said the floods caused extensive damage to school and hospital buildings, hydroelectric power stations, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

They added that Nepal will need foreign support for reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the future.

Khanal said there were reports that some people may be trapped inside tunnels at hydroelectric power stations.

He added that Nepal does not have extensive expertise in tunneling and needs equipment and technical knowledge to carry out rescue operations inside tunnels.