Nepal-Tibet floods live: Death toll passes 600, nearly 3,000 people missing

🎥 ‘We are going to see more events like this’

The scale of Nepal’s disaster cannot yet be fully measured. Entire communities remain difficult to reach, tens of thousands of people have been affected, and official assessments are only beginning.

But the central challenge is already clear: this cannot be treated solely as an immediate humanitarian emergency as signs suggest that the speed and destructive force of this extreme natural event could become more frequent.

FRANCE 24’s William Hilderbrandt welcomes David Fisher, Head of Delegation, Nepal International Federation of Red Cross who tells us more.

Death toll in flash floods climbs to 633 with nearly 3,000 people missing

The number of missing soared close to 3,000, latest figures from both countries showed, with 633 bodies recovered – and reports of some dead possibly swept downstream as far away as India.

In an area home to vast energy infrastructure projects, Nepal’s disaster authority added 933 hydropower workers to a missing persons list already including trekkers and pilgrims to Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash.

Those that made it out say they have lost everything and now face an agonising wait to discover the fate of missing loved ones, and the prospect of rebuilding their lives from nothing.

🎥 Relief camp shelters grieving families

Around 500 people are sheltering at a monastery-turned-relief camp in northern Kathmandu, where many families are still in shock after losing their homes and loved ones in the devastating Nepal floods.

FRANCE 24’s Shahzaib Wahlah reports from the camp as rescue teams continue searching for nearly 1,500 missing people.

🎥 Nepal-Tibet floods explained: The chain of events behind the disaster

A glacier broke apart. An ice and rock avalanche followed. Then came an earthquake, before a landslide triggered devastating floods that tore through kilometres of valley. This is what happened along the Nepal-China border, where rescue teams are still trying to recover survivors 48 hours after the catastrophe.

FRANCE 24 breaks down the chain of events and the scientific explanations behind the disaster.

Nepal’s disaster agency says death toll in flash floods climbs to 626 with 2,426 people missing in the country

Nepal’s disaster authority raised sharply the number of missing to 2,426 and increased the death toll in the country to 626, three days after devastating floods struck.

The list includes a large rise in Nepalis listed as missing, up from a total of 1,924 the previous night. The number of missing foreigners remains at 517, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

Nepal needs at least $4 billion for rebuilding, finance minister says

Nepal ⁠needs $4 ​billion ​to $5 billion for rebuilding after ​the ‌devastating ⁠flood ‌that struck its ⁠border areas this week, Finance ​Minister ‌Swarnim Wagle said.

«This ​is just an estimate. Loss ​and damage ​is ​being assessed,» he ​said.

Nepal flood death toll rises to 623

The devastating floods in the Nepal-Tibet border region have killed at least 616 people, Nepali police said, three days after the disaster.

Chinese state media had earlier confirmed seven dead, taking the total killed to at least 623 dead.

Nepal needs help in technical areas, not search and rescue, foreign minister says

Nepal needs foreign help in specialised and ​technical areas in which it does not have expertise in the aftermath of the devastating flood that hit its Himalayan border with China ​this ‌week, but not in search and rescue, its ⁠foreign minister Shisir Khanal said.

A glacier collapse on Wednesday unleashed a huge torrent of rock, ‌ice, mud and debris through Himalayan mountain river systems, ⁠killing nearly 600 people in Nepal and China’s Tibet, with more than 2,000 still unaccounted for.

Khanal said Kathmandu needs ​foreign help in areas such as rescuing people ‌stuck in tunnels, opening transport and communication services in places where bridges have been destroyed, identification of dead bodies, DNA testing and storing bodies ‌for longer durations.

«We have already made requests for such specialised services and technical assistance ​in areas where we don’t have enough expertise and technical knowhow,» Khanal said.

Welcome to the FRANCE 24 liveblog covering the landslides in Nepal. You can catch up on yesterday’s developments here.