Nepal-Tibet Flood Death Toll Tops 1,000 as DNA Identification Effort Expands

Rescue and recovery efforts continued across Nepal’s Himalayan border region after floods caused by a glacier collapse killed more than 1,000 people, according to The Guardian. The deluge carried ice, rock and mud through towns, valleys and hydropower facilities, leaving widespread destruction in its wake. About 4,400 people were still reported missing in Nepal and Tibet six days after the disaster. Nepalese authorities said roughly 600 people remained trapped at several damaged hydropower stations, where rescue teams were digging through mud and rock and building temporary bridges to reach isolated areas. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said more than 11,000 people had been rescued across the affected region. He also reported that 279 hydropower workers had been brought to safety, while authorities estimated that nearly 1,000 workers had initially been trapped at the projects. Power and communication services had been restored in some locations. With hundreds of unidentified bodies already buried because of decomposition and limited space in hospitals and morgues, Nepal Police asked relatives of missing people to assist with DNA profiling. Families in Nepal were told to provide a fresh blood sample and two passport-sized photographs at the Nepal Police Hospital in Kathmandu or their nearest district police office. Relatives living abroad were asked to use an authorized laboratory and send a digital copy of the DNA profile to Nepal Police. Nepal’s missing-person list included 592 foreigners, among them tourists from India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, as well as Hindu pilgrims traveling to Mount Kailash in Tibet. At a police hospital in Kathmandu, more than 100 people were reportedly waiting to give blood samples. Photographs of deceased people were also displayed outside a teaching hospital to help families identify victims. The disaster has also complicated the search for workers in hydropower tunnels. Rescue images showed heavy machinery clearing debris under artificial lights, while soldiers searched a large excavation with torches. The Guardian reported that hopes of finding survivors were fading as the days passed. China’s state broadcaster attributed the flooding to glacier instability linked to long-term global warming. Shah likewise said the catastrophe demonstrated the increasing risks facing the Himalayan region, while noting that aid exceeding $42 million had reached Nepal.