By Gopal Sharma, Liz Lee and Ethan Wang
KATHMANDU, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Nepal will have to rebuild around 20,000 houses in flood-ravaged areas, authorities said on Thursday, as rescuers continued to search for workers trapped in tunnels linked to hydropower projects and thousands remain missing after last week’s catastrophe.
A glacier collapse on August 26 sent a deluge of ice, rock and mud sweeping through the impoverished nation’s border region with China, wiping out settlements and villages and leaving few houses standing and undamaged.
“Our preliminary estimates are that 7,500 houses have been completely destroyed, either washed away or buried under debris and mud,” Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, told Reuters.
Even houses still standing were not habitable, Upreti said, with authorities estimating that around 20,000 houses would have to be rebuilt in different, safer locations.
At least 1,252 people were killed in Nepal last week as houses, streets and schools in towns and villages near the border with China’s Tibet were swept away. More than 4,200 people are still missing and thousands more displaced.
China has put the death toll in Tibet at 21, with 541 others listed as missing.
SEARCH FOR MISSING CONTINUES
More than 9,300 Nepali army troops are on the ground in the affected areas of Timure in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Chitwan and Nawalparasi East, coordinating search and rescue of the injured and helping with management of bodies, clearing blocked roads, and providing emergency medical treatment, an army statement said on Thursday.
An Australian medical student whose partner went missing near the Nepal-China border urged tech companies to do more to help find him and others caught up in the disaster by sharing tracking data that could narrow the search areas for rescue teams.
At least 583 foreign nationals were missing in the floods, Nepal said on Thursday, many of them pilgrims and trekkers.
An army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said the search was continuing with experts from India, South Korea and China for at least 900 survivors believed to be trapped in the tunnels related to hydropower projects.
“The search-and-rescue operation will continue as long as there is any hope of finding survivors. Even if there are no survivors, we will recover the dead bodies,” he said.
Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said two bodies had been recovered from the tunnel of Langtang Khola hydropower plant.
Australia pledged additional support and said it would also share telecommunications data with Nepali authorities.
China has sent a third batch of aid to Nepal including tents, blankets, medical protective suits and satellite communication equipment, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, adding that the weather offices of the two countries were in contact with each other.
“China will continue to provide emergency assistance based on Nepal’s needs and carry out international rescue cooperation,” foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a daily briefing on Thursday.
Reports on the rescue efforts in Tibet, largely provided by Chinese state media as foreign reporters’ access to the region is restricted, have slowed a day after the G216 national highway leading to the site was reopened.
Since Wednesday morning, rescue teams have been able to enter the site where the Gyirong border crossing complex once stood, bringing excavators and specialised equipment with them.
GETTING CHILDREN BACK TO SCHOOL
“People have lost everything. They don’t have citizenship IDs or passports,” said Phanindra Paudel, an official at Nepal’s National Emergency Operation Center.
Authorities were working to restore regular routines as much as possible, with a focus on getting children into makeshift schools.
More than a week after the flood, at least 22,000 children urgently need safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene support, UNICEF said in a statement.
“Our priority is to restore normal life. We are considering if children can be taught in the holding centres,” Paudel said.
Finding safe buildings in which to hold classes was a challenge, teachers said.
“We are looking for safe, empty buildings or other schools where we can resume classes. The school building was completely washed away, so we will have to build a new one in a safer location,” said Rajendra Dawadi, headmaster of a school who helped save about 900 students by evacuating them in time.
Shanti Sunar, 45, escaped the disaster with her husband but lost her house and a small shop she ran.
“I have been visiting the site almost every day. I can recognise where our house stood, but there is no trace of it now.”
“We cannot rebuild at the same location because it is not safe. I expect the government to relocate us to a safer place.”
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma, Hee Jung Jung, Liz Lee and Ethan Wang; Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by YP Rajesh, Tom Hogue, Alexandra Hudson)
Comments