Flooding at China's Jilong Port: Officials arranged for international media to visit the disaster area for the first time

Destructive floods broke out on the border between China and Nepal on August 26, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving thousands missing. While Nepal continues to update the disaster situation, China has been slow to release information on casualties and has restricted foreign journalists from freely entering the disaster area to report. More than 10 days after the incident, the Chinese government arranged for the first time on September 5 for more than a dozen international media to enter the disaster area for interviews. CNN described it as a "carefully arranged" trip by the officials to showcase the rescue operations at the Geelong Port.

According to China's official media "Xinhua News Agency", China's State Council Information Office, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arranged for foreign media reporters to go to the Geelong disaster area for interviews from September 5th to 6th. Participating media include those from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Brazil and other countries. Officials said that as of 6 p.m. on the 5th, 43 people had been confirmed dead and 519 missing in China's border areas, including 261 foreigners.

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"CNN" pointed out that this interview allowed foreign media to enter the originally restricted disaster area for the first time and inspect the Geelong Port that was flattened by flash floods; however, CNN emphasized that although the itinerary was planned by Chinese officials, reporting and editing were still entirely at CNN's discretion.

According to the report, foreign journalists were previously unable to freely enter Tibet for reporting purposes, but international media on the Nepalese side continued to report on the disaster, forming a sharp contrast. The Chinese authorities have yet to fully announce the names of those who were at the Geelong Port at the time of the incident or who were identified as missing on the Chinese side, raising questions about the transparency of information and making family members eager to find their missing relatives even more anxious.

Beijing officials emphasized that the release of information is "open, transparent and timely" and stated that the identities of the missing and victims have been verified through entry and exit records, location tracking and fingerprints; information on missing foreigners has also been reported to relevant embassies in China.

CNN reporters directly reported that after entering the disaster area, the sky was filled with dust and thick fog. The five-story Geelong Port border inspection station in the past has almost completely disappeared, leaving only the foundation and stones, gravel and mud on the ground, like a scene on the surface of the moon. The port road was cleared only on the seventh day after the disaster. No survivors have been found at Geelong Port so far.

Before foreign media entered the disaster area for the first time, the U.S. Embassy in China also publicly requested more information from China, including search and rescue progress, the identities of the victims and the situation of foreign citizens affected by the disaster.