Eight days after the devastating floods which hit Nepal and Tibet, emergency services are struggling to come to the aid of tens of thousands of victims. While the toll has now reached 1,280 dead and more than 5,600 missing, the UN is warning of supply difficulties in the ravaged areas.

Published on: 09/03/2026 - 1:27 p.m. Modified on: 09/03/2026 - 6:52 p.m.

Eight days after the devastating flood which hit Nepal and China, the UN insisted, Thursday September 3, on the difficulties in supplying the tens of thousands of victims of the "Himalayan tsunami", as described by the Nepalese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shisir Khanal, during a briefing to foreign diplomats.

The provisional toll from the disaster now stands at 1,280 dead, including 1,259 in Nepal and 21 in Tibet, as well as 5,624 missing. Among those missing are around 800 foreigners, including tourists, pilgrims and workers.

“The magnitude of the disaster, the magnitude of the destruction is simply unimaginable,” Lila Pieters Yahia, coordinator of UN agencies in Kathmandu, told the press.

The flood swept away buildings, bridges, roads and infrastructure in the region, including hydroelectric dams in service or under construction, now buried under a sea of ​​mud.

“We are all doing our best”

“Access (to the victims) remains very, very, very difficult,” noted Lila Pieters Yahia. “We’re all doing our best.”

In the most isolated areas, resupply of food, water and equipment is only possible by helicopter, by drone and, if necessary, by porter, in the tradition of the Himalayan Sherpas.

Despite the makeshift camps set up by the authorities, the situation of the displaced remains very precarious.

Also read “I would like to hear his voice one last time”: in Nepal, the distress of the families of the missing

“We have nothing left,” Pabitra Lamsal, 45, whose house in Nuwakot was destroyed, told AFP. “We had rented two rooms, but we don’t have a stove to cook food,” she testified as she came to refuel her family of nine at an emergency center.

“Nepal has mobilized all possible resources, but we recognize that the scale and complexity of this disaster require international support and solidarity,” declared the spokesperson for Nepalese diplomacy, Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri.

Eight days after the disaster, rescue operations continue unabated, in the increasingly remote hope of finding survivors.

On the Nepalese side, teams of rescuers continue the difficult exploration of several tunnels located on the sites of hydroelectric power stations or dams under construction which were swept away by the flood, according to the latest situation update from the army.

More than 900 employees or workers, employed on these sites or construction sites, are still missing, according to the Nepalese emergency authority. Rescue workers have so far only found a few bodies in these tunnels.

In recent days, families, who have been able to recover and identify the remains of their loved ones, have begun to cremate them according to Hindu tradition.

See alsoExclusive: in Nepal, temporary cemeteries for nameless bodies

“I hope the DNA will help identify him”

Others, still without news of loved ones, continue to tour hospitals or go to the tourist police office in the capital Kathmandu, hoping to obtain information on their fate.

Hundreds of people also entrusted a sample of their DNA to the authorities, in order to enable the identification of the bodies exhumed by emergency services.

"I don't hope for any more survivors," an American national, Sanjeev Rai, whose wife was taking part in a pilgrimage to the disaster-stricken region, told AFP. “I hope the DNA will identify him,” he added, “I want to be able to mourn.”

Also read “I hope I can recover his body”: in Nepal, DNA tests to identify the victims

On the Chinese side, where the dissemination of information on the disaster is closely controlled by the authorities, relatives of the missing are flooding social networks with messages of concern. “Hurry up and go home, your parents miss you a lot, we need you,” said a woman to a relative she has not heard from. “I hope that a miracle will happen (...), you must not leave us behind,” a father wrote to his daughter, a police officer at the border.

Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah blamed the disaster on global warming, calling it a "serious warning" about the risks it poses to the Himalayas.

Numerous scientific studies have revealed that the Himalayan range is warming faster than average, causing accelerated melting of glaciers which increases the risk of natural disasters.

With AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.