Overview
- A massive collapse of glacier and mountain material on August 26 sent a wave of ice, rock, water and debris down Himalayan valleys on the Nepal–China border and wiped out roads, bridges, homes and hydroelectric sites.
- Official tallies report about 1,384 dead—roughly 1,341 in Nepal and 43 in Tibet—and more than 5,500 people still missing, including hundreds of workers and foreign visitors.
- Rescuers are digging through surface debris and searching multiple buried tunnels, and a small number of survivors have been pulled out, while international tunnelling experts support the unusually complex operations.
- The United Nations has issued an urgent appeal for nearly $50 million to help more than 80,000 people affected, and Nepal has declared a national day of mourning as temporary camps face serious health and sanitation risks.
- Authorities warn identification and reconstruction will take months and cost billions, and restricted access and different reporting on the Chinese side complicate efforts to account for the missing and reach isolated communities.