Nepal-Tibet flood death toll tops 1,100 as tens of thousands search for missing
LONDON -- The death toll following the massive flash flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border climbed on Wednesday to 1,114 in Nepal, officials said, as the country's leader said his government would begin to shift its focus toward "rehabilitation."
The Nepali government's estimate for the missing remained at 3,916, the National Disaster Management Authority said in an update posted on social media at 9 a.m. local time.
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday it was continuing to track around 75 Americans who were unaccounted for across the Nepal-Tibet cross-border region. Sixteen Americans had made their way to safety, the department said.
Many more were recorded as injured in the week since the flooding destroyed towns and swept away structures, according to Nepali officials.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah of Nepal detailed on Tuesday the efforts his government was making to find those who were still missing, thanking local and international organizations for their "unprecedented courage, patience, support, cooperation and facilitation they have shown today."
"We are moving forward from search, rescue and relief distribution to rehabilitation after the devastating flood in the Bhotekoshi River in Rasuwa," Shah said in a social media post.
At least 1,114 bodies had been recovered in Nepal as of Wednesday morning, up from 1,003 a day earlier, disaster officials said in a post on social media.
More than 21,000 security personnel from the national police, army and armed police forces have been dispatched to aid in search and rescue efforts, officials said.
"A team of Nepal Police including SOCO is conducting search and rescue operations in Timure, a flood-affected area in Rasuwa," the Nepal Police said in its own update, which was posted alongside images of flood victims in body bags and officers in protective clothing.
The thousands of emergency responders had, as of Wednesday morning, doled out medical treatment to at least 4,070 people throughout several districts as of early Wednesday, officials said.
A state-affiliated media outlet in China, Xinhua News Agency earlier reported that Chinese officials said some 546 others were missing and 16 others were dead.
Shah, the Nepali prime minister, detailed on Tuesday the destruction throughout several regions in Nepal, saying that at least 48 suspension bridges had been damaged. Twenty-eight of those would have to be replaced altogether, he said.
Many more roads and villages and buildings were destroyed, he said, adding, "Details of the damaged physical infrastructure are being collected by helicopter and on foot."
The government released about 1 billion Nepali rupees, or about $6.5 million, to aid in the rebuilding of flood-affected areas, he said.
"This is not only the suffering of Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading. It is a shared blow to the heart of the entire country," Shah told the country's legislators on Wednesday, according to The Kathmandu Post.
