Nepali rescuers buoyed by miracle finds but tough conditions persist

Nepali rescuers buoyed by miracle finds but tough conditions persist KATHMANDU: Nepali rescuers faced challenging conditions on Sunday (Sep 6) as search operations after catastrophic floods entered a 12th day, buoyed by the extraordinary rescues of four survivors. The glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,385 people and left more than 5,500 missing across the two countries. Rescuers found two more people alive on Saturday, joining two saved the day before in what have been described as miraculous tales of survival. Three of those have been found in hydropower tunnels where the government initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive. "Search and rescue is going on at the tunnels despite geography, adverse weather and lack of connectivity," Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha told AFP. Rescue workers were experiencing "multiple challenges", he said. The wall of icy water and debris tore through mountain districts on August 26, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure. The United Nations chief in Nepal issued an emotional plea for aid, saying survivors of the catastrophic flooding had seen their lives transformed in just "one to two minutes". "You lose your home, you lose your livelihood, you lose your loved one and you lose the breadwinner of your family," UN Resident Coordinator Lila Pieters Yahia told AFP in Kathmandu on Sunday. On Saturday, rescuers pulled a Chinese man alive from deep inside a hydropower tunnel, and a 64-year-old Nepali woman, Chandrika Shrestha, from her mud-covered home. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said Shrestha's rescue had "given hope to the entire nation". A day earlier, two Nepali hydropower workers were rescued at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, where searches continue alongside multiple other sites, with at least 12 hydropower projects affected. Other examples of remarkable fortitude have emerged from Nepal, including Rajendra Dawadi, a school principal who quickly ordered an evacuation as the torrent approached, saving hundreds of students' lives. "If the information was wrong, we would lose a day of schooling," he told AFP. "But if it was true, we were going to lose our lives." DEATH TOLLS RISE Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, the energy minister, said work was continuing to restore electricity in several areas. "Places that have been unreachable, we've tried to restore power with solar," he told AFP. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has called the disaster a "Himalayan tsunami" and warned reconstruction costs could run into the billions of dollars. The UN has said the magnitude of the destruction makes delivering aid an immense challenge. It launched a $50 million appeal to help more than 84,000 people. With mortuaries overflowing, Nepal has buried hundreds of bodies in mass graves, after taking DNA samples for future identification, according to the police. Only around 100 bodies have been identified and handed over to families. Nepal will hold a national day of mourning on Monday, the 13th day since the disaster, in line with a traditional period of mourning in Hindu rituals. While the exact cause of the glacial collapse is unclear, climate change is accelerating glacial melting worldwide, increasing the risk of such disasters. In Nepal, rescuers have retrieved 1,342 bodies, while around 4,996 people remain missing, according to the disaster agency. The death toll from the disaster in Tibet has risen from 31 to 43, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday. A further 519 people are missing, it said. Foreign journalists cannot travel freely in China's Tibet Autonomous Region and may only visit as part of strictly controlled trips organised by the authorities. Chinese media have primarily focused their reporting on the scale of search and rescue operations, and have not broadcast footage showing the reactions of families. The combined toll is 1,385 dead and more than 5,500 missing, including around 800 foreigners, among them tourists and pilgrims.