More than 1,000 dead from catastrophic Nepal-China floods

Scientists studying satellite imagery said the collapse appears to have involved the failure of bedrock beneath a glacier in the Himalayan region. The rockfall was powerful enough to register as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event.

The resulting surge of water and debris entered rivers that flow through valleys in Tibet and Nepal, causing them to rise rapidly. Floodwaters swept away homes, buildings, roads and bridges and carried mud and rocks downstream.

Authorities are still searching for thousands of people who remain unaccounted for on Tuesday. Rescue teams are also working to provide assistance to survivors in areas where roads and other transportation routes have been damaged or cut off.

For rescuers, the immediate priority remains finding at least 900 workers who are missing from 12 hydropower projects damaged by the flash floods, about 500 of whom are believed to be trapped inside tunnels.

Visuals released by Nepal’s army showed rescue teams entering dark, debris-filled tunnels, wading through mud and water and climbing over rocks as they searched for signs of life.

Bimal Sharma, a helicopter pilot who has been flying rescue missions since the disaster began, said he was shocked to see the devastation in Timure, a border town close to Tibet that he has known for years.

“It felt like I was flying over an entirely different landscape,” he said.

Sharma said he has had little opportunity to speak with the people he rescued, but their expressions told him how deeply the disaster had affected them.

“I can see the pain in their eyes. It’s heartbreaking,” he said.

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Saaliq reported from New Delhi.

Shristi Kafle And Sheikh Saaliq, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

More than 1,000 dead from catastrophic Nepal-China floods

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