Reading view

Border area between Nepal and China where 33 Australians are missing still almost entirely cut off

Majority of missing Australians were near Gyirong Port minutes before impact. Rescuers say the area is now destroyed, covered in metres of silt and debris

It has been almost a week since the catastrophic floods in Nepal and not even a vehicle can get into the area where the majority of missing Australians were last heard from.

Gyirong Port, the border area between Nepal and China, was the first to be hit. Images from Chinese rescue teams who have managed to get in by helicopter or hiking show the area has been completely flattened. The immigration building, the power lines, everything, just wiped away.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Lhasa fire and rescue mobile detachment/Xinhua/AP

© Photograph: Lhasa fire and rescue mobile detachment/Xinhua/AP

© Photograph: Lhasa fire and rescue mobile detachment/Xinhua/AP

  •  

Nepal rescuers race to reach hundreds feared trapped in hydropower tunnels

Workers thought to be stuck in underground areas at 11 sites after last week’s devastating flash floods

Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 12 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods, ​the ⁠country’s disaster ​management authority has said.

The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 939 people, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 are missing on the two sides of the border.

Continue reading...

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

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

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

  •  

China is concealing scale of flood disaster, say Tibet campaigners

Rights group claims 300 homes were destroyed in Tibet and number of missing people is ‘far higher’ than Beijing admits

A Tibetan advocacy group says hundreds of homes were destroyed on the Tibetan side of the border in last week’s deadly floods, raising questions about Beijing’s official account of the scale of the disaster.

Public discussion about the flash floods has been restricted, with security officials in Tibet announcing on Sunday that it had penalised at least 10 people for sharing “false disaster information”. There was no further information on the nature of the penalties.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jigme Dorje/Xinhua/AP

© Photograph: Jigme Dorje/Xinhua/AP

© Photograph: Jigme Dorje/Xinhua/AP

  •  

Nepal rescuers race to reach hundreds feared trapped in hydropower tunnels

Workers thought to be stuck in underground areas at 11 sites after last week’s devastating flash floods

Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 12 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods, ​the ⁠country’s disaster ​management authority has said.

The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 939 people, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 are missing on the two sides of the border.

Continue reading...

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

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

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

  •  

Headteacher saves 900 children from deadly flash flood in Nepal

Rajendra Dawadi ordered students to higher ground with moments to spare after receiving warnings from upstream

A headteacher in Nepal evacuated 900 children from a school moments before a deadly wall of water struck their town amid the devastating flash floods that have killed almost 800 people and left thousands missing.

Rajendra Dawadi decided to halt classes and order children to higher ground after receiving warnings about the scale of the flooding heading their way.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

© Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

© Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

  •  

Headteacher saves 900 children from deadly flash flood in Nepal

Rajendra Dawadi ordered students to higher ground with moments to spare after receiving warnings from upstream

A headteacher in Nepal evacuated 900 children from a school moments before a deadly wall of water struck their town amid the devastating flash floods that have killed almost 800 people and left thousands missing.

Rajendra Dawadi decided to halt classes and order children to higher ground after receiving warnings about the scale of the flooding heading their way.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

© Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

© Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

  •  

Cash settlements on home insurance claims leaving vulnerable Australians short-changed, Asic says

Corporate regulator finds insurers settling most claims with cash rather than by managing repairs or rebuilding, warning of ‘unfair outcomes’ for homeowners

Home insurers are overwhelmingly paying cash to settle claims, leaving Australians to foot blowouts in repair costs for their cyclone-damaged homes.

The corporate regulator is calling for “realistic” bigger payouts, warning the practice could cause “unfair outcomes” for people already in vulnerable positions.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Brian Cassey/AAP

© Photograph: Brian Cassey/AAP

© Photograph: Brian Cassey/AAP

  •  

Nepal-Tibet deaths from flash flooding rise amid race to free workers in tunnel

Total of 804 confirmed dead and more than 3,000 missing amid threat of fresh inundation

Rescuers in Nepal and Tibet have battled through leg-sucking mud amid the threat of fresh flooding to search for thousands of people still missing after a deadly wall of water swept through the Himalayan border zone, engulfing entire villages.

The latest updates on Sunday put the number of missing at 3,048, including hundreds of foreigners. There was a total of 804 confirmed deaths across Nepal and Tibet, and reports of some bodies swept downstream possibly as far as India.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

  •  

Nepal-Tibet deaths from flash flooding rise amid race to free workers in tunnel

Total of confirmed 797 dead and more than 3,000 missing amid threat of fresh inundation

Rescuers in Nepal and Tibet have battled through leg-sucking mud amid the threat of fresh flooding to search for thousands of people still missing after a deadly wall of water swept through the Himalayan border zone, engulfing entire villages.

The latest updates on Sunday put the number of missing at 3,048, including hundreds of foreigners. There was a total of 797 confirmed deaths across Nepal and Tibet, and reports of some bodies swept downstream possibly as far as India.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

  •  

Daughter traces mother and aunt’s last known location in Nepal through TikTok video

Tulshi Patel says mother Hemangini Jitendra Patel and aunt Hema Sunil Amin were last seen at Friendship Bridge on Nepal-China border

Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

The daughter of a woman missing in Nepal has told how she traced her mother’s location through a TikTok video posted hours before the devastating flash flood hit.

The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and sweeping away entire villages, have killed at least 675 people, while more than 3,000 remain missing.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Armand Terruli/Guardian Community

© Photograph: Armand Terruli/Guardian Community

© Photograph: Armand Terruli/Guardian Community

  •  

‘Their whole village has disappeared’: frantic hunt for survivors in Kathmandu hospital

Family members pin photos of Nepal’s missing to hospital wall as people try not to give up hope on loved ones

Posters of missing people line the wall of the hospital, the glue still fresh beneath. A schoolgirl smiling in her uniform; a beaming, chubby-cheeked baby; a couple smiling on their wedding day; a young man, hands on hips, atop a mountain peak; a young girl with flowing hair, peeking out from behind a door.

These faces are just a fraction of the thousands who have not been seen since deadly flash floods coursed through the Himalayas and wiped away entire villages. By Saturday morning, the toll of the missing had risen to almost 3,000, in both Nepal and Tibet.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ahmer Khan/The Guardian

© Photograph: Ahmer Khan/The Guardian

© Photograph: Ahmer Khan/The Guardian

  •  

‘Their whole village has disappeared’: frantic hunt for survivors in Kathmandu hospital

Family members pin photos of Nepal’s missing to hospital wall as people try not to give up hope on loved ones

Posters of missing people line the wall of the hospital, the glue still fresh beneath. A schoolgirl smiling in her uniform; a beaming, chubby-cheeked baby; a couple smiling on their wedding day; a young man, hands on hips, atop a mountain peak; a young girl with flowing hair, peaking out from behind a door.

These faces are just a fraction of the thousands who have not been seen since deadly flash floods coursed through the Himalayas and wiped away entire villages. By Saturday morning, the toll of the missing had risen to almost 3,000, in both Nepal and Tibet.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ahmer Khan/The Guardian

© Photograph: Ahmer Khan/The Guardian

© Photograph: Ahmer Khan/The Guardian

  •  

Number of missing in Nepal and Tibet rises to 3,000 as bad weather hampers search

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

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.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

© Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images

  •  

Nepal-Tibet floods: Nepal calls for technical support for rescue efforts as number of missing rises to nearly 3,000 – latest updates

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

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.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

  •  

Nepal-Tibet floods: Nepal calls for technical support for rescue efforts as number of missing rises to nearly 3,000 – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

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.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

  •  

Devastating scale of Himalayan floods comes into focus as rescuers arrive

Three days after a catastrophic wall of water, mud and rock tore through Nepal's Himalayan valleys, the scale of the disaster is still coming into focus. At least 579 people are now confirmed dead, nearly 2,000 remain missing, and the danger is not over. Authorities are closely watching lakes formed in the wake of the glacier collapse, amid fears of further flooding. Stephanie Sy reports.

  •  
❌