SRINAGAR: Nepal’s worst flash-flood disaster in recent years has claimed at least 1,204 lives, with more than 4,200 people still missing a week after an ice-rock avalanche triggered devastating floods across the country’s northern and central regions.
Rescue teams continued to search tunnels and underground powerhouses along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers on Wednesday, looking for workers feared trapped after floodwaters swept through several hydropower projects.
The scale of the destruction has also prompted Prime Minister Balendra Shah to link the disaster to the growing risks posed by climate change in the Himalayan region.
Addressing the House of Representatives, Shah said the international community must recognise the connection between climate change and the increasing vulnerability of mountain communities.
“According to experts, the flash flood in Bhotekoshi of Rasuwa district was caused by an ice-rock avalanche in the Himalayas,” he said, describing the disaster as evidence of the risks facing people living in the mountains as climate change intensifies.
Shah said climate change had a global contribution and that the responsibility for reducing its impact also rested with the international community.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 1,204 people had died across eight affected districts. The worst-hit districts include Chitawan, where 348 bodies have been recovered, followed by Nawalparasi East with 217, Nawalparasi West with 202 and Nuwakot with 155.
Another 115 bodies were recovered in Rasuwa, 69 in Gorkha, 60 in Dhading and 38 in Tanahu.
Of the 4,216 people still missing, 583 are foreigners. Security forces have so far rescued 11,993 people, using helicopters and ground teams, while around 21,314 personnel have been deployed for search and rescue operations.
The floods were triggered on August 26 by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border. The sudden release of water and debris devastated settlements and infrastructure along the river systems, leaving thousands dead or unaccounted for.
The disaster has also caused casualties across the border in Tibet. Chinese officials said the death toll in Gyirong county had risen to 21, with 541 people still missing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said nearly 100 Chinese nationals remained unaccounted for in Nepal.
As families wait for news of missing relatives, some have begun holding symbolic funerals.
At Pashupati Aryaghat in Kathmandu, dozens of funeral effigies representing people who remain missing were cremated in a mass ceremony on Wednesday.
The Nepal Police said postmortem and legal identification had been completed for 1,113 bodies, while 95 had been handed over to relatives. Details of 911 unidentified bodies have been uploaded on the police website to assist families in identifying their loved ones.
Hydropower sites become rescue focus
The search has increasingly shifted towards hydropower projects along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers, where hundreds of workers remain unaccounted for.
Teams from the Nepali Army and Armed Police Force, along with foreign technical experts and hydropower project employees, have been working to reach underground structures. But thick layers of debris have made the operation extremely difficult.
Ganesh Karki, former president of the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal, said the river had deposited so much material over the tunnels that rescuers were struggling even to locate their entrances.
Data released by the association showed that 947 people linked to various hydropower projects remained unaccounted for. It is not yet clear how many may be trapped inside underground powerhouses and tunnels and how many were swept away by floodwaters.
The Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project, with a capacity of 216 MW, has reported more than 557 people missing. At the 60 MW Upper Trishuli-3A project, 42 people are believed to be trapped inside the underground powerhouse.
Another 191 people remain unaccounted for at the 37 MW Upper Trishuli-3B project, while 93 are missing from the 111 MW Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project.
At the 20 MW Langtang Khola Hydropower Project, 41 people are feared trapped.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung said the government was using all available resources to locate those who could still be alive.
The continuing rain, however, has complicated the rescue effort, particularly in Rasuwa and Nuwakot. Meteorologists warned of further rainfall in affected areas, while the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology recorded 60.2 mm of rain at Nosyam Pati in Sindhupalchok over a 12-hour period.
Heavy rain was also forecast in parts of the mountainous areas of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces.
Infrastructure badly damaged
The floods have caused extensive damage to Nepal’s transport and energy infrastructure.
Around 400 MW of hydropower capacity has been disrupted. In the Rasuwa-Nuwakot region, about 40 km of blacktopped roads have been destroyed and another 16 km damaged.
At least 42 suspension bridges and 31 motorable bridges have also been damaged, further complicating access to affected communities.
Rescue teams have been evacuating people from high-risk areas, clearing debris from roads and working with local authorities and residents to distribute relief and continue searches.
Shah said the government had mobilised security forces immediately after receiving information about the floods and kept helicopters ready for rescue and relief operations.
Given the scale of the disaster, he said Nepal had accepted international assistance and coordinated with other countries from the beginning.
India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the United States, Australia, Qatar, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Japan and Singapore have provided assistance, according to the prime minister.
The Asian Development Bank, World Bank, European Union and United Nations have also pledged support. Technical teams from India, China and South Korea are being mobilised to assist rescue operations at hydropower sites.
More than NPR 7 billion has so far been collected in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
But with thousands still missing, continuing rain and entire stretches of infrastructure buried under debris, the search for survivors remains the most urgent task.
