Source The Hindu
KATHMANDU — The death toll from the catastrophic flash floods that ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border region has climbed to 1,252, with authorities reporting that nearly 4,875 people remain missing more than a week after the disaster struck. In the wake of the devastation, Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah has issued a stark warning to the international community, attributing the tragedy directly to the escalating impacts of climate change.
The disaster, which authorities have dubbed a “Himalayan Tsunami,” was triggered on August 26 by a massive rock and ice avalanche in the high-altitude regions of the Bhotekoshi River corridor. The ensuing wall of water, mud, and debris decimated riverside settlements, severed critical highways, and severely damaged a dozen hydropower projects across the Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading districts.
A Desperate Search and Rescue Mission
According to the latest data released by Nepal Police, recovery teams have retrieved hundreds of bodies across several districts, including 355 from Chitawan, 218 from Nawalparasi East, and 208 from Nawalparasi West. The immense scale of the disaster has prompted a massive multi-national rescue effort. Close to 8,000 police personnel, alongside the Nepali Army and Armed Police Force, have been deployed to the hardest-hit areas.
Rescue operations have been severely hampered by destroyed communication infrastructure, continuous rain, and thick debris. Specialized international teams from India, China, and South Korea have joined the effort to clear mud and boulders from underground hydropower facilities where many workers are believed to be trapped.
While nearly 12,000 individuals have been safely rescued, the situation remains grim for the families of the missing. Among the unaccounted for are approximately 590 foreign nationals from 34 different countries, leaving international relatives desperate for news amid the communication blackout. Authorities have begun holding temporary burials and are urging relatives to provide DNA samples at local police stations to assist forensic teams in identifying hundreds of unnamed victims.
“A Shared Global Responsibility”
Addressing Parliament earlier this week, Prime Minister Balendra Shah stressed that the Himalayan region is bearing a disproportionate burden of global warming. He noted that experts have confirmed rising temperatures in the Himalayas—increasing by an estimated 1.8 degrees—directly contributed to the glacial collapse that triggered the devastating floods.
“This is a serious signal that, alongside climate change, the risks we must bear in the Himalayan region are increasing,” Shah stated, emphasizing that mitigating these effects must be a collective effort. “Climate change is a product of the whole world’s contribution; mitigating and managing its effects is the shared responsibility of the global community.”
With international assistance flowing in from the United Nations, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and neighboring countries, Nepal is now facing the daunting task of both immediate relief and long-term infrastructure recovery. However, as grieving families hold symbolic funerals for those still lost to the floodwaters, the tragedy serves as a stark reminder of the immediate threats posed by climate-induced disasters in the world’s most vulnerable mountainous regions.
