Death toll rises, hundreds still missing

Chinese officials said on Friday that the death toll from the flash flood that struck Gyirong county in Tibet near the Nepal border last week has increased to 31, with 531 others still missing. The update, reported by state news agency Xinhua, quoting an official briefing in Tibet, came nine days after the disaster.

According to figures released on August 30, the missing included 261 foreigners from 22 countries, among them 49 from India, 104 from Nepal, 33 from Latvia, 18 from the United States, 15 from Britain, and six each from Canada and Australia. Chinese officials have been sharing details about the missing foreigners with embassies based in Beijing.

Nearly 100 Chinese nationals also remain unaccounted for in Nepal, Chinese officials said.

Relief efforts and international cooperation

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing in Beijing that the second batch of emergency relief supplies provided by China reached Kathmandu on Tuesday. He said China had also sent five DNA forensic experts at Nepal's request, and was preparing a third batch of emergency relief supplies based on Nepal's request, including Bailey bridges, mortuary refrigerators, epidemic prevention supplies, and emergency communication equipment.

"China will also send a second group of DNA experts," he added, while saying the Nepalese side had thanked China for urgently sending more supplies and providing technical support.

Asked about glacier retreat in Tibet and whether China was open to a coordination mechanism with neighbouring countries to deal with such disasters, Guo said Beijing had shared important images, satellite and hydrological data with Kathmandu.

"According to the assessment of Chinese and Nepali experts, long-term effects of global warming have made glaciers unstable, and this disaster was triggered by the collapse of a glacier in Nepal, resulting in a rapid crash of ice and rocks which took away a chunk of the mountain," he said.

"China and Nepal have maintained sound cooperation in meteorology, water conservancy and disaster prevention and reduction. In the wake of the disaster, China has shared with Nepal important information such as images, satellite and hydrological data of the disaster-affected areas, including early-warning information on an upstream barrier lake," he added.

Cause of the disaster

The disaster struck when a mass of ice and rock broke away from the north face of Nepal's Langtang Lirung mountain, sending a huge mass of debris racing down the valley, as reported by state news agency Xinhua, citing an assessment by Chinese and Nepali experts.

Wider impact

The flash flood has killed nearly 1,300 people and left more than 5,000 missing in Nepal, according to figures reported by state news agency Xinhua in the context of the Tibet update.

The massive flash flood struck the immigration post at the Gyirong-Nepal border on August 26, where hundreds waited on both sides either to enter or exit Tibet. A large number of Indian pilgrims were visiting Tibet to take part in the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, according to a report by Press Trust of India.