Sept. 2 (UPI) — Nepal’s death toll from a devastating flash flood one week ago stands at 1,114 Wednesday, with 3,916 still missing, according to the country’s disaster risk authority.
The Nepal National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority posted the numbers on X with 11,993 people rescued, 292 injured and 3,453 in shelters.
“This is not just a flood. It’s a Himalayan climate disaster that came without warning,” the agency said in the post.
Nepal is intensifying the relief and recovery effort, the United Nations said. The priority is delivering aid, finding loved ones, tracing missing relatives and reunifying separated children, the BBC reported the U.N. secretary-general’s spokesperson said.
There are still 75 Americans who are unaccounted for.
Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said Tuesday that at least 48 suspension bridges had been damaged. Of those, 28 of them would have to be completely replaced, ABC News reported.
Shah told the Nepal parliament Wednesday that the flash flood had “snatched away mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers from us in an instant,” the BBC reported.
But, “we do not have the luxury of taking a rest simply because our bodies are exhausted. Nor is there time to wail together when our hearts break,” Shah said.
“This is not only the suffering of Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading. It is a shared blow to the heart of the entire country,” The Kathmandu Post reported Shah said.
The BBC reported that Chinese state media have reported 21 dead and 540 people missing.
Hundreds of people are believed to be trapped in hydropower tunnels, and rescue workers continue to search for them.
Chinese rescue teams are still searching for survivors at the Gyirong Port border crossing between Nepal and Tibet. They have reopened the route by clearing the roads of debris, Chinese media said.
Rescuers from China and India are helping by building temporary bridges to get to hard-to-reach areas, and drones are heading to some of those areas to look for survivors, BBC reported.
