Nepal: death toll after floods revised upwards to 6,150

The number of people missing in Nepal after the August 26 floods has been revised upwards to 6,150, the Nepalese disaster authority announced on Wednesday. “We collected information about missing people from district offices and revised the data after verification,” disaster authority spokesperson Shanti Mahat told AFP. The day before, this figure was 5179.

The number of bodies found amounts to 1,403, of which 105 have been identified, according to the same agency. Across the border, in China, the toll is 43 dead and 519 missing, according to state media. The cumulative toll from the deadly collapse of the mountain glacier on the border between Nepal and China now stands, for the two countries, at 1,446 dead and at least 6,669 missing. Among the latter are several hundred foreigners, including tourists and pilgrims.

A bill for reconstruction estimated at $4.78 billion

The sheer scale of the flooding was unprecedented for witnesses, with the Nepalese government pointing to the devastating effects of rising global temperatures on the Himalayan mountains. Nepal, a largely rural country of 30 million people, accounts for just a fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions compared to industrialized nations.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah will next week make his first foreign trip as a leader to address the United Nations General Assembly on this urgent issue. Nepal estimates that the cost of rebuilding after deadly floods will amount to $4.78 billion.