Nepal requests foreign ⁠help in identification and storing of bodies, DNA testing and rescuing people from tunnels

• Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded

• New flood fears and a race to free group trapped in tunnel

Poor weather temporarily hampered aerial rescue operations in Nepal on Saturday as the search for thousands of missing people in areas devastated by catastrophic flash floods along the border with China continued.

The combined toll in Nepal and Tibet rose to 691 dead and more than 3,000 people missing after China’s latest update on Sunday. Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, while Nepal’s disaster agency said late Saturday that the death toll had climbed to 675 with 2,498 people missing.

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© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

The loss of power-generating capacity has raised questions about an ambitious expansion of renewable energy in one of the world’s most hazard-prone mountain regions.

© Atul Loke for The New York Times

As rescue efforts entered their fourth day, the scale of destruction came into focus, signaling a daunting recovery for the vulnerable nation.

© Atul Loke for The New York Times

Nepali government says India and China are sending expert tunnel rescue teams, as minister estimates cost of rebuilding could be billions of dollars

• ‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in Nepal

• Chinese rescuers find ‘nothing but ruins’ at border crossing as Nepal seeks help to ID and store the dead

Outside the army camp in the Nuwakot district of Nepal, people run their fingers down the sheets of paper pinned to the wall, scanning the growing list of those reported missing for news of loved ones. Nepali authorities said nearly 3,000 people are missing, while China reported more than 550 people unaccounted for.

Nepal’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, has appealed for international support to help rebuild the country after the floods, saying reconstruction efforts could run into “billions of dollars” AFP reports.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

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• ‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in Nepal

• Chinese rescuers find ‘nothing but ruins’ at border crossing as Nepal seeks help to ID and store the dead

Outside the army camp in the Nuwakot district of Nepal, people run their fingers down the sheets of paper pinned to the wall, scanning the growing list of those reported missing for news of loved ones. Nepali authorities said nearly 3,000 people are missing, while China reported more than 550 people unaccounted for.

Nepal’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, has appealed for international support to help rebuild the country after the floods, saying reconstruction efforts could run into “billions of dollars” AFP reports.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Five-day showcase reveals leaps Beijing has made in humanoid tech, but also its limitations as US rivals come up from the rear

With exploding pelvises, enough comic pratfalls for a Buster Keaton show reel and the odd moment of ruthless violence, the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing gripped the world this week with an unsettling mixture of hilarity, trepidation and relief.

The five-day showcase staked out China’s claim to undisputed leadership in humanoid robotics as android martial artists landed knockout roundhouse kicks and robot teams marched into the arena heralded by flag-waving captains astride giant robotic dogs. The games’ blue-riband event, the 100m, did not disappoint when the robot-sprinters ran quicker than Usain Bolt before slamming mindlessly into a padded wall in a blaze of sparks, flames and flying mechanical limbs.

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© Composite: Alex Mellon for the Guardian : Getty Images

© Composite: Alex Mellon for the Guardian : Getty Images

© Composite: Alex Mellon for the Guardian : Getty Images

Fraudsters are exploiting enterprise chat apps like Teams and Webex to trick Chinese victims into transferring large sums of money, fueling a wave of complaints.

Given the challenges in forecasting and detecting such calamities, researchers advised banning construction on floodplains and marking out clear evacuation routes.

© Atul Loke for The New York Times

A leading Chinese A.I. start-up released its latest model and made the case that China’s embrace of open software is safer than Silicon Valley’s closed approach.

Federation says it fears death toll of nearly 600 will continue to rise as rescuers reach cut-off areas

• Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

• Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded

• Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?

The Red Cross has said at least 93,000 people may have been affected by Wednesday’s flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border, which have killed nearly 600 people, left another 1,900 missing, and triggered a huge rescue operation that is being hampered by fears of new flooding.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian network, said it feared the death toll would continue to rise as some of the hardest-hit areas remained inaccessible after roads and bridges were destroyed by the torrents.

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© Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

© Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

© Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis‑Petersen is on the ground in Bidur, one of the most devastated towns in Nepal, after the deadly flash floods that struck on Wednesday morning. Most homes were completely washed away when a tide of mud, rocks and debris flooded the river valley. Those who survived describe clinging on to buildings and trees as the water rushed over them

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

Scale of devastation emerges in Nepal as reporters reach disaster area, but Chinese state media focus more on rescue efforts

• Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

In the days since an enormous glacier in the Himalayas snapped away from a mountaintop and cascaded into the valley below, the true scale of the devastation caused by the flash floods in Nepal and Tibet is still unfolding.

But the picture is emerging far more quickly in Nepal than in China, where strict controls on the flow of information from one of its most sensitive regions are hampering the public’s understanding of events.

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© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

Desperate relatives trying to reach loved ones last seen in area where entire villages have been swept away

• Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

• Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded

• Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?

Families are rushing to Nepal to search for the 33 British nationals who are still missing, as fears mount over the risk of a second wave of flooding in the region.

The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and sweeping away entire villages, have killed at least 538 people, while more than 1,500 remain missing.

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© Composite: Facebook

© Composite: Facebook

© Composite: Facebook

Nepalis and Tibetans must not pay the price – with their lives, livelihoods and money meant for education and health – for global heating caused by wealthy states

• Sunil Acharya is an international climate policy and just transition specialist based in Kathmandu, Nepal

As a Nepali citizen working on international climate policy for more than a decade, it is difficult to look at the harrowing images coming out of the catastrophic flash flood that thundered down valleys in Nepal, sweeping down the Lhende Khola, Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers, and not feel angry.

Not just because of the destruction, but because it comes after years of warnings from scientists and civil society that a rapidly warming planet would make disasters more frequent, more intense and harder to predict. This is what the cost of delaying global climate action looks like.

Sunil Acharya is an international climate policy and just transition specialist based in Kathmandu, Nepal

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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© Photograph: Shankar Bhujel/JNA/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Shankar Bhujel/JNA/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Shankar Bhujel/JNA/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Given the challenges in forecasting and detecting such calamities, researchers advised banning construction on floodplains and marking out clear evacuation routes.

© Atul Loke for The New York Times

Risk of fresh flooding had forced rescue teams to withdraw as residents rushed up hills to escape possible river surge

• Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

• Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded

• Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?

Rescuers searching for survivors of deadly flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border have resumed their efforts after suspending operations when a debris dam burst its bank on Friday, increasing the risk of fresh flooding.

Residents in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, on the border with Tibet, were seen rushing up hillsides ⁠on Friday to escape a possible surge in the river, ⁠according to witnesses. Fears of another flood came as authorities in Nepal and China said that at least 543 people had been killed in the disaster.

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© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

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• ‘The flood took everything I have’: survivors grieve for relatives and homes swept away in Nepal

• Visual guide: how the deadly flooding unfolded

• Tell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?

More now on the Nepali army’s rescue operation to save about 100 people trapped in a tunnel at a hydropower project swamped by Wednesday’s flooding.

“Two helicopters have been dispatched but it is challenging because it is tough to even locate the entry points of the tunnel,” army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet told AFP.

Relief efforts are also under way to provide the rescued people what they need.

The army is still working to safely evacuate more than 100 people trapped in the same tunnel.

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© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Prime Minister Secretariat, Nepal/AFP/Getty Images

The scale of the disaster in the Himalayas is becoming clearer a day after catastrophic flooding tore through parts of Nepal and Tibet. Scientists believe the disaster was likely triggered by the collapse of a glacier, unleashing a torrent of water, mud and debris that swept away entire communities. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Dan Shugar of the waterSHED Lab at the University of Calgary.

An ice avalanche that started high in the Himalayas tumbled thousands of feet, releasing vast amounts of energy that pulverized the ice into a significant volume of flood water.

© Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

A devastating flood in Nepal and Tibet has left a trail of death and destruction. Torrential rains sent a wall of mud and debris crashing through communities with little warning. Geoff Bennett reports.