Ten local pilgrims from Dombivli in Maharashtra's Thane district remain untraceable a week after massive flash floods struck the Nepal-China border region, destroying communication lines and checkpoints, and leaving their families in deep distress.
While two tourists, Prakash Shantaram Mane and his wife Pratibha, have successfully returned home, the other ten devotees who went on the Kailash Mansaroar Yatra have been missing since August 26 following floods near the Timure Chinese immigration checkpoint. With communication in the affected border zones cut off for a week, distressed relatives have appealed to authorities for immediate intervention.
Meanwhile, India delivered more than five tons of essential medicines in its fifth batch of humanitarian aid to flood-hit Nepal on Wednesday, September 2, accompanied by an 11-member rescue team.
According to Nepalese authorities, the death toll from the flash floods has risen to 1,243 after rescue personnel recovered more bodies from the affected zones. While rescue teams have evacuated over 12,000 people to safety, roughly 4,000 individuals remain unaccounted for amid widespread search operations. The Ministry of External Affairs stated that an Indian Air Force flight carrying approximately 5.5 tons of medical supplies arrived in Kathmandu, containing antibiotics, painkillers, surgical items, and other essentials.
Environmentalist Sunita Narain stated on Wednesday that the disaster in Nepal is the direct result of decades of engineering mindsets assuming that rivers and mountains can be manipulated at will. Speaking at an international conference on sustainability education organized by the Mobius Foundation, the Director General of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment noted that hydropower projects are continually built in the Himalayan region and what we witness today is nature striking back.
One week after destructive floods washed away roads, China has fully reopened the sole route to the Gyirong border point on the Nepalese side, allowing heavy machinery to reach the main disaster site for the first time. Due to severe damage to the G216 national highway, China had previously been forced to supply logistics and equipment via air or deploy rescue teams on foot across the mountains. According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, heavy machinery and search-enhancing equipment have now arrived where a Chinese border inspection complex once stood.
Nepal is planning to rebuild a landslide early warning system near its Chinese border following the glacial flood that caused over 1,000 deaths a week ago. According to two government sources who spoke to Reuters, the equipment will feature cameras, satellite links, and seismic sensors. The gear is being installed in Timure, a settlement in Nepal's Rasuwa district near the river system where a glacier breach sent a massive torrent of mud, water, and debris surging through the mountains.
In Bihar, continuous heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours has pushed major rivers above danger levels, placing the administration on high alert. All 69 gates of the Indrapuri barrage on the Sone River in Rohtas district have been opened to accelerate water discharge and manage potential flood conditions. According to the Water Resources Department, rivers including the Kosi, Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Ganga, and Punpun are flowing above danger marks at various locations.
A co-author of a major UN scientific assessment published on Wednesday warned that climate change is accelerating glacier melt and exacerbating the risk of catastrophic flooding in the Himalayas. Karl-Friedrich Schlössner, a climate scientist at Austria's IIASA research institute, told AFP that humanity must curb global temperature rises to combat the increasing frequency of extreme weather events.
Additionally, Nepalese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri confirmed that nearly 100 Nepalese citizens are missing following the flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border. Approximately 3,000 Nepalese nationals had travelled to Tibet for trade and religious purposes, with over 2,500 having returned safely through the Hilsa and Tatopani border points. Around 1,500 Nepalese citizens remain stranded at the Kerung border point, and officials from both nations are discussing measures to bring them back safely.
