As of the morning of August 27, nearly 1,500 people are reported missing in Nepal and Tibet following catastrophic floods and mudslides that hit the region. Police in Nepal stated that at least 162 people were killed after flash floods swept through communities near the border.
A ground report received from members of ANPFA on the evening of August 26 reads as follows:
On the morning of Wednesday, August 26, at around 8:30 a.m., a sudden and massive flood entered the Bhote Koshi River from the Chinese border/Tibetan side at Rasuwagadhi and swept downstream through Rasuwa and Nuwakot into the Trishuli River.
As there was no heavy rainfall in the district, preliminary analysis by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, based on satellite imagery, points to a snow-and-rock avalanche on the Lhende River, approximately twenty kilometers northeast of the border. The cause is still under investigation.
Timure, Syabrubesi, Hakubesi, Mailung, Shantibazaar, and Betrawati are among the towns and villages along the river that have been devastated—some completely, others severely. The number of casualties is not yet known. The entire 42-kilometer road, several concrete bridges, nearly 10 hydropower projects, and transmission facilities have been damaged, and telephone and electricity lines are down across the corridor. The office of Uttargaya Rural Municipality has itself been washed away.
While ANPFA’s national leadership and most of its comrades and members are safe and in contact, the organization is still awaiting information from the Rasuwa–Nuwakot corridor itself. Communications there are cut, and they cannot yet account for ANPFA members and their families in the affected settlements. Security personnel, customs staff, bank staff, and hydropower workers are reportedly missing in large numbers.
“Among the missing are many peasant families who lived and farmed on the banks of the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers. This is a grave loss for the peasant movement and for the country. It will take several days before the true scale of the devastation is known,” said Pramesh Pokharel of ANPFA.
ANPFA has mobilized its cadres and district organizations for search, rescue, and relief work alongside security forces and local government. Its provincial committees in Bagmati are coordinating support for displaced families.
ANPFA members have expressed their deepest condolences to every family that has lost a member and solidarity with all those displaced and waiting for news. The Federation will issue a fuller statement as the situation becomes clearer.