Guwahati: The death toll from the flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border has reached at least 616, Nepal Police said on Saturday. Thousands of people are still missing, while rescue teams remain engaged in efforts to find them.
Chinese state media has reported seven additional deaths, putting the overall toll from the disaster at no fewer than 623.
Search and relief work entered its fourth day, with rescue teams taking nearly 2,500 stranded people to safety in Nepal. The evacuees include 163 foreign nationals.
The Mugling-Kathmandu highway also became operational again on Saturday, according to a Nepal Police notice. The road is a key land route linking Kathmandu with other parts of the country.
Figures released by the Nepal Army’s Public Relations Directorate showed that 2,465 people had been evacuated so far. Of them, 163 were foreign nationals, comprising 113 Indians, 26 Chinese, 15 South Koreans, four Germans, two Italians, two Americans and one Omani.
The evacuation effort also brought 191 workers out of tunnels at different hydropower projects in Trishuli and Rasuwa, the directorate said.
Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle estimated that Nepal could need between $4 billion and $5 billion for reconstruction following the floods that struck the country’s border areas this week. He said the figure was only an initial estimate because the authorities were still assessing the damage and financial losses.
By Friday night, more than Rs 2.295 billion had been raised for the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (PMDRF), the Ministry of Finance said. The money had been deposited into accounts at 10 separate commercial banks.