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Thousands are missing after Nepal-Tibet flash flood · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Two days after a wall of mud, ice and water
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  Speaker 1: swept through parts of the Himalayas, rescue teams in Nepal
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  Speaker 1: and China are still searching for thousands of people. The
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  Speaker 1: police in Nepal say the death toll from Wednesday's flash
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  Speaker 1: flood has climbed to almost 600, with more than 2,500
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  Speaker 1: still unaccounted for. Across the border in China's autonomous Tibet region,
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  Speaker 1: rescue teams are also searching for survivors. Crews briefly halted
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  Speaker 1: operations today when an upstream lake began to overflow, proving
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that the danger from Wednesday's catastrophe has still not completely passed.
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  Speaker 1: A short while ago, our correspondent Adil Bhatt gave us
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  Speaker 1: the latest from one of the hardest hit villages that
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  Speaker 1: are still standing.
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  Speaker 2: I'm in a remote village in Dungu Bazar, Nepal, and
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  Speaker 2: we're seeing some extensive damage all around. So over there
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  Speaker 2: in the distance is Trishula River, the river that flooded,
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  Speaker 2: killed nearly 400 people and leaving hundreds still missing. Just
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  Speaker 2: behind me, a team of police officers has arrived. They're
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  Speaker 2: assessing the extent of the damage and speaking to local
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  Speaker 2: villagers about who may need rescuing or assistance. We're also
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  Speaker 2: told the Home Minister of Nepal was here some time ago.
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  Speaker 2: He was providing police with more information about the situation.
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  Speaker 2: And I want to show you just how extensive damage is.
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  Speaker 2: Even here on this road, you can see that the
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  Speaker 2: mud has come up and the blocked parts of the road.
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  Speaker 2: We can't go further than this. We're told that given
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  Speaker 2: the extent of damage, it could be dangerous or risky
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  Speaker 2: for us to continue. So for now, we're staying here.
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  Speaker 2: But the scale of economic damage and number of lives
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  Speaker 2: lost is still impossible to measure. The Nepalese government is
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  Speaker 2: continuing to establish how many people have died, while rescue
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  Speaker 2: teams are still searching for those who may be in
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  Speaker 2: desperate need of assistance.
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  Speaker 3: Shankar Dahal is a journalist based in Kathmandu who has
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  Speaker 3: been covering the flash flood on the ground. He told
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  Speaker 3: me more about the challenges the rescue teams are currently
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  Speaker 3: facing there.
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  Speaker 4: This turned a massive humanitarian and together with humanitarian, it's
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  Speaker 4: a logistical challenge for the country like Nepal because we
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  Speaker 4: lack many such logistics. So we cannot respond to such
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  Speaker 4: kind of disaster as we take reference of the past
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  Speaker 4: as well now today too. And the government, the security
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  Speaker 4: forces and even the local communities, extremely they work into
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  Speaker 4: the rescue operations today. And but the problem is we
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  Speaker 4: have access, the road access is up to the Trishuli only.
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  Speaker 4: And beyond that, around 70 kilometers far to the Chinese border,
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  Speaker 4: still we do not have road access. Therefore, we rely
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  Speaker 4: only in the chopper. And due to not having the
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  Speaker 4: proper electricity and not having the telephone access to the people,
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  Speaker 4: still we cannot identify if we have the living one
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  Speaker 4: there in that area. Whatever has been damaged, that is
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  Speaker 4: the real challenge for the Nepal government and even to
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  Speaker 4: the people also. They can't be back into the same,
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  Speaker 4: their houses area. for not having the proper land and
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  Speaker 4: not having the previous estate. So therefore, it is really
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  Speaker 4: a big deal now to the country like Nepal.
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  Speaker 3: The journalist Shankar Dahal there reporting from Nepal. And we
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  Speaker 3: can now bring in David Fisher. He's the head of
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  Speaker 3: the International Federation of Red Cross's delegation in Nepal and
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  Speaker 3: joins us from Kathmandu. David, what can you tell us
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  Speaker 3: about the rescue operation?
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  Speaker 5: Well, as your journalist has just mentioned, there's still areas
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  Speaker 5: that are accessible only by helicopter. But Nepal's armed forces
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  Speaker 5: have been doing work day and night to try to
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  Speaker 5: rescue people and also to bring in some small amounts
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  Speaker 5: of relief. But we're very worried about their well-being. We
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  Speaker 5: haven't been able to do a real assessment in the
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  Speaker 5: Rasuwa area. And we know that the needs are very high.
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  Speaker 5: We've just been able to reestablish reliable communication with the
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  Speaker 5: Nepal Red Cross's local chapter there. They, thank goodness, are okay.
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  Speaker 5: And they've been working very hard with the armed forces,
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  Speaker 5: but much more is needed. Red Cross has been supporting
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  Speaker 5: the emergency needs further south where there is access, and
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  Speaker 5: those needs are still very extreme. So many people have
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  Speaker 5: lost their homes. They need food and water. They've lost everything.
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  Speaker 5: They need hygiene items. They're taking refuge in schools and
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  Speaker 5: government buildings amid all of this mud and gunk, as
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  Speaker 5: your pictures show. And so there's a very long road
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  Speaker 5: still ahead of us to getting a normal life back again.
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  Speaker 3: Speaking about the long road, the disaster zone is very,
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  Speaker 3: very large. Are aid agencies able to reach everyone who
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  Speaker 3: actually needs help?
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  Speaker 5: So far, no. No, we're not. As it happens, in
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  Speaker 5: the area that we can access, there are plenty of
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  Speaker 5: people who do need the help. But there are still
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  Speaker 5: people who are beyond our reach. And we're most concerned
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  Speaker 5: about them. And it's not just food and different items,
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  Speaker 5: but it's safe water. We're very concerned about the possibility
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  Speaker 5: for waterborne diseases, which would add enormous misery to what's
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  Speaker 5: already facing this population. And today, of course, there was
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  Speaker 5: this terrifying incident with the secondary flood, which, thank goodness,
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  Speaker 5: was nothing like the flood on Wednesday. But it sent
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  Speaker 5: people scrambling up into higher reaches. And it has reinforced
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  Speaker 5: the trauma that the families who are affected by this
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  Speaker 5: disaster have felt.
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  Speaker 3: Now, we've seen reports today that Nepal has turned down
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  Speaker 3: search and rescue help from abroad. Given how dire the
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  Speaker 3: situation is, it strikes me as a bit odd. Can
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  Speaker 3: you help explain that?
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  Speaker 5: Well, it's not unusual for governments to pick and choose
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  Speaker 5: what they really feel they need. And search and rescue
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  Speaker 5: is a very specialized type of support. And there were
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  Speaker 5: thousands of armed troops who were involved in this, dozens
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  Speaker 5: of helicopters that the government has been able to deploy.
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  Speaker 5: It's never enough, but it can be very complicated to
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  Speaker 5: have teams coming in from all over the world. And
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  Speaker 5: they often arrive very late and are able to contribute
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  Speaker 5: a limited amount. Not nothing, of course, but it's not necessarily...
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  Speaker 5: what can I say, a sign of intolerance. And it
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  Speaker 5: can be very difficult to coordinate so many teams. On
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  Speaker 5: the other hand, the government has been very clear that
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  Speaker 5: they are welcoming international relief support, international recovery support. They
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  Speaker 5: are working to facilitate that from the Red Cross, from
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  Speaker 5: the United Nations and other actors. And so we are
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  Speaker 5: doing our best to to raise funds and to support
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  Speaker 5: the humanitarian action, in our case, of community-level volunteers of
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  Speaker 5: the Red Cross Society.
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  Speaker 3: Now, if we look at the scale of this tragedy,
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  Speaker 3: is it comparable to anything you've worked on in the past?
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  Speaker 5: Well, Nepal has seen much more than its share of disasters.
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  Speaker 5: Every year, we have floods and landslides. In 2024, we
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  Speaker 5: had a massive flood very close to the capital city
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  Speaker 5: of Kathmandu that affected thousands and thousands of families. And
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  Speaker 5: of course, in 2015, there was the history-making earthquake, Gorkha
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  Speaker 5: earthquake here, affected millions of people. Having said that, this
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  Speaker 5: incident is unique. The force of the water, the number
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  Speaker 5: of people and homes that have been affected, this is
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  Speaker 5: going to be a major, major strain for Nepal in
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  Speaker 5: its recoveries.
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  Speaker 3: Now, what do you expect the international community to do?
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  Speaker 3: Will there be any coordinated effort?
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  Speaker 5: We have good coordination in-country, particularly with the various ministries
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  Speaker 5: at the national level and, of course, with local authorities.
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  Speaker 5: They are playing a leading role in this effort and
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  Speaker 5: have taken their role very seriously. We coordinate, of course,
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  Speaker 5: also with our friends in the humanitarian community We play
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  Speaker 5: a leading role in the shelter sector, for instance, with
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  Speaker 5: all of these colleagues. But coordination will be a challenge
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  Speaker 5: going forward. And what's most important, though, is that we
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  Speaker 5: gather the resources and put them in the hands of
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  Speaker 5: the people that need them. And so we have launched
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  Speaker 5: a global appeal and we're counting on solidarity.
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  Speaker 3: David Fisher there. head of the International Federation of Red
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  Speaker 3: Cross's delegation in Nepal. Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.