The confirmed death toll from floods triggered by a glacial collapse near the Nepal-China border has risen above 1,000, officials said on Sept. 1, as rescuers continued searching for thousands of missing people.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 987 people had been killed and 3,916 remained missing, including 583 foreign nationals.
Chinese state media reported 16 deaths and 546 people missing in Tibet, bringing the confirmed toll across Nepal and China to 1,003.
More than 11,800 people have been rescued in Nepal, where over 21,000 security personnel have been deployed. Destroyed roads and bridges have forced rescue crews to rely heavily on helicopters.
Among those missing in Nepal are 639 people linked to hydropower projects. Rescue teams have been clearing mud and debris from tunnels where workers are feared trapped.
With morgues overwhelmed, authorities have begun burying some unidentified victims after collecting DNA samples.
The disaster began on Aug. 26 when a mass of rock and ice collapsed in the Himalayas, sending water, mud and debris through valleys and settlements. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a magnitude 5.2 seismic signal from the landslide, which was initially mistaken for an earthquake.
Scientists say rising temperatures are accelerating glacial melt and destabilizing high-altitude slopes across the Himalayas. The extent to which climate change contributed to this particular collapse has not yet been established.
