Kathamandu: Devastating floods across Nepal have claimed at least 676 lives, with 2,362 individuals reported missing, triggering an unprecedented humanitarian and logistical crisis. Local authorities are battling the immense scale of the disaster, forcing them to conduct mass burials as search and rescue operations continue in highly precarious conditions.
A major point of concern is the whereabouts of 275 Indian nationals who currently remain uncontactable. Additionally, a multinational group of 77 pilgrims associated with Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation has been missing for two days. The group, which includes citizens from 19 countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, was returning from the Kailash Mansarovar yatra when a sudden flash flood struck the immigration office area in Gyirong, China.
The tragic human toll has completely overwhelmed local infrastructure. In Nepal’s Chitwan district, authorities have made the grim decision to conduct a mass burial for 229 unidentified bodies in Devghat. Officials stated that out of 233 bodies recovered from the river, only four could be identified, and the mass burial was deemed necessary by doctors to prevent the spread of severe infections.
The disaster’s grim aftermath has also spilled across the border into India. Authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district have recovered four bodies, including those of three children, which washed down the flooded Narayani river. Local officials have shared photographs and videos with the Nepalese administration to assist in identification.
Upstream, Chinese authorities are continuously monitoring a volatile cross-border glacial lake that formed following a recent glacier burst. According to China’s Ministry of Water Resources, the immediate threat of a major outburst has slightly diminished, with the lake’s surface area shrinking by 21,000 square meters since Thursday to 99,000 square meters. However, radar and drone surveillance remains active 24/7 after a second, deeper lake was discovered downstream.
Amid the ongoing catastrophe, local police reported cases of opportunism. A joint team of Nepal Police and Armed Police Force arrested 29 individuals in the Dhading district for looting NPR 92.68 lakh from a bank safe that had washed away in the raging Trishuli river.
The economic fallout from the disaster is expected to be staggering. Nepal’s Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle provided an initial estimate indicating that the country will require between $4 billion and $5 billion for comprehensive rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts.