Key takeaways
Massive Destruction: Entire villages, markets, and green hillsides have been swept away by floods triggered by a rock and ice avalanche along the China-Nepal border, leaving mud, rocks, and debris in their path.
Human Toll: Over 1,250 bodies recovered and more than 5,000 missing, with around 100 feared trapped in hydropower tunnels; survivors face immense grief and uncertainty.
Infrastructure Collapse: Roads, bridges, and hydropower projects destroyed; stranded vehicles and buried buildings highlight the scale of devastation and disruption to daily life.
In Nepal’s flood-ravaged Rasuwa district, Yangee Tamang grapples with grief and uncertainty, days after deadly torrents swept away entire villages, leaving a landscape of mud, rock and debris.
What were once busy villages, markets, green hillsides and winding roads in Rasuwa have been transformed into vast stretches of mud, broken rock and debris.
“It wasn’t really water, it was gas-like, all black and it moved like boiling water,” she said.
“It was all so sudden, it was not possible for anyone to run away.”
– ‘Hope has died’ –
“It is all gone, nothing is left. No one is left,” Tamang told AFP, after tracing the route of the August 26 destruction by air on Thursday, with roads below washed out.
Rescue teams in Nepal have recovered more than 1,250 bodies, and more than 5,000 are missing, after the gigantic wave triggered by a rock and ice avalanche roared down the China-Nepal border.