More than a thousand people are now confirmed dead in the devastating flood that struck Nepal nearly a week ago, with emergency crews pushing excavators, helicopters and heavy equipment into the disaster zone on Tuesday, September 1, to search for the thousands still unaccounted for.
Joint rescue units from China, India and Nepal have been constructing makeshift bridges to reach isolated communities while digging through collapsed hydropower facilities in an effort to free close to 300 workers believed to be trapped underground. The flood catastrophe began on August 26, when a glacier gave way along the border with China, unleashing a torrent of ice, rock and mud into the valleys below.
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Nepal’s disaster management agency reported Tuesday that 639 people were still stuck at wrecked hydropower stations, which remain the central focus of the recovery operation. The confirmed death count now stands at 1,050, with roughly 4,000 people — including 583 foreign nationals — still missing.
A preliminary assessment from the UN Development Programme put the volume of debris left behind at 2.2 million tons, made up of building fragments, rock and sediment. The agency noted that the sheer scale of wreckage illustrates both the severity of the destruction and the enormous task ahead as residents work to clear roads, homes and public areas.
Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media update on Monday that more than 11,000 people had been pulled to safety so far, and that electricity and communications had come back on line in parts of the affected region.
One survivor from Rasuwa district, among the hardest-hit areas, described to news organisation Reuters her fleeing with nothing but the clothes on her back after walking to Nuwakot alongside dozens of other displaced residents.
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China’s foreign ministry announced it would dispatch DNA identification specialists to the region along with a fresh shipment of aid, including drones and water-purification equipment. South Korea, which has nine citizens unaccounted for at a hydropower site, said it would deploy a 44-person emergency response team to assist rescue operations in Rasuwa.
While Nepal turned down broader international involvement in general search-and-rescue work last week, officials told Reuters they still required specialized equipment — including life-detection devices, industrial refrigeration units and prefabricated bridge components. Shah reported that international aid contributions have already topped $42 million, with more expected.
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According to Balendra Shah, 279 workers have been pulled out of hydropower project sites, where combined teams from Nepal, India and China continue search efforts. An army source said rescuers are struggling against collapsed tunnels and lingering floodwater at several sites believed to hold the largest concentrations of trapped workers.
Asish Gurung, a mountain guide assisting with tunnel rescues, told Reuters from Haku village that initial assessments at the Trishuli hydropower plant showed it was effectively impossible to enter the tunnel without specialised machinery. He estimated as many as 500 people could still be trapped inside, and said bulldozers and excavators were urgently needed.
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Nepal has seen a surge in hydropower development since the early 2000s, as the country has sought to harness its Himalayan rivers both to ease domestic electricity shortages and to expand power exports to India.
