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Nearly 1,000 are missing in Nepal and Tibet after floods caused by a glacial collapse
Confirmed
UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal — China's Xinhua News Agency said Thursday that mudslides in Tibet caused by a glacial collapse have left three people dead and 558 missing, while police in Nepal reported at least 162 were killed after massive flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China swept through communities a day earlier.
At least 157 people dead and hundreds of tourists among missing after roads, bridges and power plants swept away At least 157 people dead and hundreds of tourists among missing after roads, bridges and power plants swept away At least 157 people have been killed and hundreds, including large numbers of foreign tourists, are missing after flash floods hit the Himalayan border areas of Nepal and Tibet in China , police have said, with parts of India also at risk.
Nepal’s tourism board said more than 100 of those missing were religious tourists from India and the Indian diaspora on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus. The US Geological Survey initially reported the event as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake, but additional analysis indicated the “seismic energy was instead generated by a glacial collapse and debris flow”.
However, the United States Geological Survey later reported that the flash flood was "instead generated by a glacial collapse and debris flow," stating that no earthquake occurred. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV later reported that at least 558 people were believed to be missing on the Tibet side of the Nepal-Tibet border, according to The Associated Press.
Officials in Nepal said 403 people, including 341 from foreign countries including India, the US, the UK, Australia, South Korea and Malaysia, had been reported missing in the country. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties”.
The flooding was determined to have been caused by the collapse of a glacier, U.S. officials later said. China’s official Xinhua news agency said the flash flood occurred on the Nepal side of the border and cut roads, communications and power links in the Shigatse region.
The board said that 47 of the missing tourists were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada. "The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in 14 months, this time triggered by an ice rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side that blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream," said Saswata Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the climate research group.
The Nepalese government had not yet requested help but Australia was coordinating with Nepal, the United Nations, the Red Cross and other organizations on a humanitarian response, she said. Nepal's Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal initially reported that the flash flood was caused by an earthquake that triggered a large landslide, which blocked the Bhote Koshi River.
What's confirmed
- UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal — China's Xinhua News Agency said Thursday that mudslides in Tibet caused by a glacial collapse have left three people dead and 558 missing, while police in Nepal reported at least 162 were killed…
- Chinese state broadcaster CCTV later reported that at least 558 people were believed to be missing on the Tibet side of the Nepal-Tibet border, according to The Associated Press.
- Nepal’s tourism board said more than 100 of those missing were religious tourists from India and the Indian diaspora on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus.
- The board said that 47 of the missing tourists were from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada.
- The State Department also said its embassy in Kathmandu was working with local authorities to to find and help U.S. citizens affected by the disaster.
- Researchers in Kathmandu found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting faster, with ice loss rates doubling since 2000.
- At least 157 people dead and hundreds of tourists among missing after roads, bridges and power plants swept away At least 157 people dead and hundreds of tourists among missing after roads, bridges and power plants…
- The US Geological Survey initially reported the event as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake, but additional analysis indicated the “seismic energy was instead generated by a glacial collapse and debris flow”.
What's still developing
- People were preparing to go to office then," resident Shoyam Rajbhandari said.
- The Nepalese government had not yet requested help but Australia was coordinating with Nepal, the United Nations, the Red Cross and other organizations on a humanitarian response, she said.
- It said there is no official confirmation of Malaysian casualties and that it was working closely with authorities to ascertain their safety and whereabouts.
- The U.S. Geological Survey first reported a magnitude 4.4 earthquake early Wednesday, about 66 kilometers (41 miles) north of Kathmandu, near the border.
- It said its determination was based on data from nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves and satellite imagery, and that no earthquake had occurred.
- Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday's flash flood.
- "Hydrological observations indicate the exceptional speed and magnitude of the flood wave," they said in an emailed statement, noting that water levels at one point on the Trishuli river rose by as much as 9 meters…
- The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, had maximum flooding, they said.