Nepal turns to rehabilitation as hope fades for nearly 4,000 missing after glacier disaster

KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) — Hopes of finding more survivors among the thousands still missing in Nepal were fading, authorities said on Wednesday, a week after a glacier collapse in the Himalayas unleashed flash floods that devastated the mountainous nation.

At least 1,114 people have been killed, and nearly 4,000 remain unaccounted for, with officials fearing many are buried under debris left by the floods that tore through towns and valleys near the Chinese border.

Two Israeli citizens are among the missing, and about 30 Jews are among the missing.

Across the border in Tibet, China’s official toll has held steady since Sunday at 16 dead and 546 missing.

“The hope of finding survivors is decreasing,” said Phanindra Paudel, a senior official at the government’s National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC). “We pray and are hopeful. Hope is hope!”

Rescuers are trying to find survivors believed to be trapped inside the tunnels of several hydroelectric plants, whose powerhouses have spaces and rooms for people to stay, army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said.

Authorities said 279 people had been rescued from the ruins of hydropower projects but at least 639 more were still missing, some of whom are believed to be trapped in tunnels.

Specialized rescue teams from India, China and the United States were involved in the tunnel rescue attempts, authorities said.

“The plan today is to get on a helicopter and go to the hydro tunnels where they believe there’s still life,” Ferrin Cole, a member of the US crisis response team that is currently in Nepal, told ANI news agency.

“We have high-technology listening equipment to listen for sounds of life. And then the safety teams to go in and check.”

Some 30 Jews are among the missing

On Tuesday, the head of Chabad of Nepal in Kathmandu, Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz, said that around 30 Jews, including the two Israelis confirmed missing, are among the missing.

He told Chabad.org that the center he runs is working intensely with authorities to help coordinate searches for people missing in the floods.

The Chabad center has also sent aid and assistance to flood victims, Lifshitz said.

He did not explain how he had reached the estimated number of Jews missing, but his wife, Chani Lifshitz, said they were “in contact with the families, local communities and officials on the ground, trying to piece together every detail.”

“We are checking every report, every name, every location and every possible lead,” she added.

“For several nights this week, my husband and I barely slept,” she said, adding that preparations for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, next week have come to a standstill.

“More and more missing Jewish families are turning to us, and we know that some of them [may have been swept away],” Lifshitz wrote on Chabad of Nepal’s Facebook page. “The thought that we will not be able to give them a Jewish burial gives us no rest.”

Focus shifting to rehabilitation

“Looking at the nature of the disaster and the area which has been hit by the flood, as days go by there are less chances of human survivors,” said Binoj Basnet, a retired senior army general who oversaw the search and rescue operation during the 2015 earthquake in which about 9,000 people were killed.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the focus would shift from search, rescue and relief operations towards rehabilitation and reconstruction.

“The government is now focusing on rehabilitation while working to protect the lives of people in the affected areas and providing necessary medical treatment and psychological counseling,” Shah said in a late-night post on social media on Tuesday.

The disaster left at least 2.2 million tons of debris, according to a preliminary estimate by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), including parts of buildings, rocks, and sediment, the equivalent of six Empire State buildings.

“The amount of debris shows the scale of the destruction and the challenge communities face as they clear homes, roads and public spaces and begin to rebuild,” it said.

Residents in affected areas walked around the remains of what were once bustling villages and towns, trying to salvage whatever they could of their belongings.

“My husband and I were able to escape safely. But we could not pick up anything,” Shanta Sunar, 45, a small shopkeeper and survivor from Nuwakot, said.

“We have lost whatever we had. But we are lucky nothing happened to us.”

Public health risk

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said aid agencies were “very concerned” about the growing public health risk from overcrowded shelters, contaminated water and damaged health facilities, particularly for women and children during the monsoon season.

About 3,900 people remain unaccounted for, and nearly 3,500 people are living in 27 displacement sites across the hardest-hit districts of Nuwakot and Rasuwa, Dujarric told a regular UN press briefing on Tuesday.

Shah said his government had stepped up surveillance and response measures to prevent possible outbreaks of disease in flood-affected areas.

Climate change catalyst

The Himalayan region faces severe risks from future glacial floods, a senior UN official said on Tuesday, a sentiment that Shah echoed in his post.

“Questions about why the ice and rock collapsed and how such a large volume of water was generated must be answered by the global community,” Shah said.

China has also linked the flood to climate change.

Zev Stub and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.