Miracles and Loss After Glacier Flood in Nepal and Tibet
REPORTER:
It’s almost two weeks since the collapse of a glacier sent floodwaters ripping through valleys in Nepal and Tibet. While the window to find survivors is closing, there have still been several miracles amid the mud.
REPORTER:
Here, a Nepali police officer gestures to the spot where rescuers found a woman trapped in the ruins of her home Saturday. Her family believed her dead and had already held a mourning ritual for her.
REPORTER:
But somehow, in a tight pocket of air amid the floodwaters, she survived.
Mahendra Darnal (POLICE OFFICER):
As we were conducting rescue operations, we heard cries shouting, "Save me, save me." Using our rescue equipment, we cleared away the mud and debris, and our rescue team found 64-year-old Chandika Shrestha alive.
REPORTER:
There’s been a particular focus on searching tunnels connected to hydropower plants. Nepali officials say some 900 people may have been trapped inside these tunnels, and the search has paid off.
REPORTER:
On Saturday, Chinese national Lu Haitao became the third person rescuers have found alive in the tunnels. He had only signs of mild hypothermia.
REPORTER:
Still, for every story of survival, there are many more stories of loss. In Nepal alone over 1,300 are dead and more than 5,500 are missing. Monday has been declared a day of mourning across the country.
REPORTER:
It’s a similar story across the Chinese border in Tibet, where officials say over 40 are dead and more than 500 are missing.
REPORTER:
Survivors of the disaster number in the tens of thousands. Many, like Nabing Magar, have lost everything. Her home, along with her animals and the bean crop her family depended on for a living, have all been wiped out.
Nabing Magar (FLOOD SURVIVOR):
It's not really a home, more like some pillars. If I say it's a home, it's not really livable. It has filled with mud and debris, we can’t see what’s inside. Everything has been buried.
REPORTER:
With aid reaching some areas but not others and with the risk of deadly diseases like cholera, the United Nations’ resident coordinator in Nepal is calling on the rest of the world for urgent help.
Lila Pieters Yahia (UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR IN NEPAL):
My plea to the international community, this is the time to help Nepal. It's not tomorrow and it's not yesterday. We need we have a young government, a government which is determined. It has is putting big reform and this disaster. That means they need to respond. They need to take money from other places.
REPORTER:
Some estimates have put the cost of recovery at 5 billion US dollars, and the question remains how to pay for it. Nepal’s government has requested climate compensation from a UN fund for developing nations affected by climate change. While they wait for an answer, survivors are left wondering about the future.
Hank Hsu and John Van Trieste for TaiwanPlus.
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