Nepal’s rescuers have reached remote areas, nearly a week after devastating floods left a trail of destruction across the country’s towns and valleys, with electricity restored in some areas. Rescuers built temporary bridges and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects in the Himalayas to rescue close to 300 trapped workers.
About 600 people remain stuck in several devastated hydropower stations, which have become the focus of rescue efforts. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said over 11,000 people have been rescued across the affected region, and power and communication lines have been restored in some areas.
At least 939 people have been killed in the destruction, according to Prime Minister Shah. Thousands of citizens have lost their homes, families, loved ones, and property, he said in a late-night social media post. The government understands the immense pain they are enduring and plans to support them through rehabilitation.
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Rescue teams have managed to restore road networks to Nuwakot, one of the worst-affected districts, facilitating rescue operations and distribution of relief material. A glacier collapse triggered a deluge of ice, rock, and mud, which swept through the impoverished nation’s border region with China.
Aid worth more than $42 million has poured into the country after the disaster, and the government expects the contributions to increase. Neighbors India and China are helping with rescue efforts, including building bailey bridges to reach remote affected areas.
Police official Bipin Regmi said a search team recovered 24 bodies from a house in Betrabati village in Nuwakot district. We are reaching new areas and recovering bodies, Regmi told Reuters.
There has been a boom in hydropower projects in Nepal since the turn of the century, as the mountainous country sought to take advantage of its Himalayan water resources to address chronic domestic power shortages and exploit prospects for selling electricity to southern neighbor India.
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Prime Minister Shah said the catastrophic event signalled the growing risks that the Himalayan region faces. The region must remain vigilant, and the time has come for them to strongly raise before the international community the disasters they are experiencing as a consequence of climate change, he said.
Last week’s flood was caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming, China’s state broadcaster said on Monday.
As rescue efforts continue, the focus is on hydropower stations, where authorities estimated that close to 1,000 people were trapped. Pictures and videos shared by rescue teams showed earth-moving equipment digging and shovelling mud and rocks under lights in the dark of the night as workers watched.