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A massive glacial lake burst along the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday sending a wall of water down to the Himalayas and causing a devastating flash flood that has claimed 165 lives so far and left 1,500 plus missing. The destruction caused by the natural disaster has made it challenging for rescue workers and aid to reach some of the areas affected by the disaster as roads, bridges and power lines have been severely damaged.
The U.S. Geological Survey said that what appeared to be a massive earthquake was in reality a massive glacial collapse that sent a wall of debris down into the Trishuli River valley in Nepal’s Nuwakot district. The destruction was catastrophic as it tore through the towns, border crossings and trekking routes and is now flowing down the Trishuli River in India as the Gandak River, wreaking even more havoc in Bihar state.
The foreigners among the missing include 177 Indians, 63 Americans, 34 Australians, 33 British and 25 Canadians. The majority of the missing foreigners were pilgrims on their way to the sacred site of Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, a site revered by both Hindus and Buddhists. In the Gyirong County of the Tibet Autonomous Region, CCTV reported that 558 people were missing, 260 of whom were foreigners.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah traveled to the town of Bidur in Nuwakot district on Thursday to monitor the rescue efforts. Some 5,000 members of the Nepalese Army and Police are involved in the rescue efforts and managed to pull 125 people from the debris on Thursday alone. They are also airlifting emergency supplies to thousands of stranded people in remote areas.
A second disaster of similar magnitude is threatened by the enormous mass of debris that the massive landslide has created up in the Gyirong county’s upstream area of the lake. Chinese authorities warn that in case the natural dam bursts, within hours the resulting new disaster will ravage the valley already affected by the first catastrophic event.
The U.S. State Department also said it was releasing $500,000 in disaster assistance and that a disaster response adviser would be sent to Nepal to assist the government there in the relief efforts. He cautioned, however, that the number of deaths would go up as rescue teams reached remote locations.
Disaster struck the Himalayas during the height of the trekking and pilgrimage season. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners including Americans, Australians and Europeans trek through the high mountains of Nepal and Tibet each year. The large number of foreign visitors killed and missing has triggered an outcry from foreign embassies in Nepal and Tibet and increasing pressure on the governments in Kathmandu and Beijing to allow in international rescue teams.
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