By Gopal Sharma, Sahana Bajracharya, Saurabh Sharma and Liz Lee
NUWAKOT, Nepal, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Nepal and China resumed rescue operations that had been suspended briefly in the flood-hit Himalayas on Friday after risks from an overflowing lake were found to be manageable, easing fears of fresh devastation.
A glacier collapse on Wednesday unleashed a huge torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris through Himalayan mountain river systems, killing at least 579 people in Nepal and five in China’s Tibet.
The number missing in Nepal has nearly doubled to 1,924, the country’s disaster authority said on Friday. At least 558 were missing in Tibet’s Gyirong County, including 260 foreign nationals, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday.
More than 90,000 people are estimated to have been affected by the disaster, the Red Cross said.
The flooding led to the formation of a lake, which on Friday began overflowing into the Lhende Khola and Trishuli rivers.
The overflow sparked panic and warnings from authorities in Nepal, leading to rescue operations being suspended for about three hours. The risk prompted all Chinese rescue personnel and vehicles to withdraw as well, CCTV said.
Both resumed rescue operations after the threat eased, with Nepali officials saying that they were still hopeful of finding survivors.
THREATS FROM GLACIAL LAKES REMAIN
Nepal is continuing to monitor two barrier lakes upstream of the flood zone, with an official warning that flood risks will persist until both lakes fully drain.
Satellite imagery showed the second lake growing larger with no visible outlet, raising concerns that water pressure could still be building.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said that the first barrier lake was reducing in size, citing analysis by the water resources ministry.
A Chinese government geohazards expert warned, however, that the lake may be unstable and that over 100 glacial lakes scattered throughout the area could pose a threat.
BODIES FOUND IN NORTHERN INDIA
Wednesday’s flood ripped through villages and valleys, destroying power stations, roads and bridges along a route that links Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet and is popular with trekkers and pilgrims. Of those missing, at least 540 are foreigners, many of them Hindu pilgrims from India headed to the holy Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet.
Ten bodies were found in three places in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in rivers that flow down from Nepal, police told Reuters on Friday.
CHINA CALLS FOR MONITORING OF GLACIER LAKES
In Beijing, a Politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping called for stronger monitoring of glacier lakes and landslide risks, and for closer international disaster cooperation, Xinhua reported.
China’s Premier Li Qiang, the country’s No. 2 official, arrived in the disaster-stricken area of Gyirong on Thursday afternoon, Xinhua said. The visit suggested Beijing was treating the disaster as a matter of the highest national priority.
Chinese rescuers had yet to reach the worst-hit site on the Chinese side of the border, the Gyirong border crossing, by Thursday evening, state media reports indicated, as crews worked to clear a key access road.
Dramatic footage on Wednesday showed torrents of water and debris tearing through the border crossing, engulfing people trying to flee.
‘ALL OF OUR PEOPLE ARE GONE’
Earlier, Nepalese rescue teams used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys, while emergency services recovered dozens of bodies swept down into the plains.
Dibga Tamang was among the last people rescued from Rasuwa on Thursday, airlifted along with three others to an army camp in Nuwakot.
“All of our people have gone. They are dead,” Tamang said. “I have no one left waiting for me. Everything and everyone is gone. The end.”
A large number of people arrived at an army base in the area seeking information about missing and dead family members. Bodies were brought into the barracks and lists of rescued people were posted outside.
Around the world, relatives of those missing were desperate for information.
“Where are they?” said Sneha Sudhir, one of 10 women whose husbands had set out from Nepal on a trek to Tibet’s Mount Kailash. The men, all from northern Virginia, are among dozens of Americans missing.
“Everybody is taking turns in shedding their tears, wiping it off and getting back to work,” Sudhir said tearfully from her home in Chantilly, Virginia.
NEPAL DECLINES FOREIGN RESCUE HELP
While offers of search-and-rescue assistance are pouring in, Nepal said it does not need help from other nations.
A South Korean rapid response team in Kathmandu has not been deployed because Nepal does not have a plan to accept foreign rescue yet, the foreign ministry in Seoul said.
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.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma, Sahana Bajracharya, Aftab Ahmed, Saurabh Sharma, Liz Lee, Yukun Zhang, Xiuhao Chen, Shi Bu, Sakshi Dayal, Kanjyik Ghosh, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Hritam Mukherjee, Anushree Fadnavis, Ashley Tang and Christine Chen; Writing by Lincoln Feast and YP Rajesh; Editing by Stephen Coates, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Conor Humphries)
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