Kathmandu (Nepal) (AFP) - The United Nations warned Thursday that the difficulty of reaching survivors of devastating floods in Nepal is severely hampering the delivery of basic aid, noting that it is considering using cargo drones and porters to overcome the problem of destroyed roads.

Published on: 09/03/2026 - 16:37

The death toll from devastating floods in Nepal has risen to at least 1,259 people, according to what the Disaster Management Authority announced Thursday, while the number of missing people has increased sharply to 5,083 people.

Among the missing are hundreds of foreigners from at least 34 countries.

“The scale of the disaster and destruction is unbelievable,” UN Resident Coordinator Leila Peters Yahya told reporters in Kathmandu.

“Access was very difficult,” she added, noting that UN agencies delivered water and sanitation supplies, in addition to food and medicine.

"These are the most urgent needs, especially for people at the center of the disaster," she added.

Search operations for missing persons are still continuing.

In Kathmandu, family members of some missing foreigners said they were searching hospitals and morgues hoping to find any information about their relatives.

American citizen Sanjeev Rai, 53 years old, went to Nepal to search for his wife, one of about 75 Americans missing.

"I feel hopeless, it's been a lot of days," Ray says.

Isolated areas near the epicenter of the disaster remain cut off from the world, while the United Nations is working with the Nepalese government to deliver emergency supplies to the affected areas.

For his part, Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal, during a briefing for diplomats in Kathmandu on Thursday, described the disaster as a "Himalayan tsunami."

He continued, "I can say from what I witnessed for myself that the reality on the ground is much more severe than what pictures can convey," adding, "These are not ordinary floods."

"Size and complexity"

“Nepal has mobilized all its available resources, but we realize that the scale and complexity of this disaster requires international solidarity and support,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lok Bahadur Paudel Chhetri told reporters on Thursday.

"The extent of the damage to homes, roads, bridges, hydropower facilities and other vital infrastructure is extremely enormous," he added.

Chhetri renewed the call for specialized international assistance, including drones capable of carrying heavy weights and temporary bridges, in addition to body bags and DNA testing equipment to help identify victims.

He pointed out that Nepal also needs a mobile air traffic control system and devices to monitor ground vibrations.

More than 21,000 members of the Nepalese security forces are participating in search, rescue and relief operations, while Nepalese rescuers, with the help of experts from India, China and South Korea, continue to search for survivors who are feared to be stuck inside the tunnels of hydroelectric power facilities, but the teams have repeatedly encountered dead ends, and no survivor has been found so far.

The floods swept through mountainous areas and destroyed roads, bridges and hydroelectric dams.

Peters Yahya told reporters, "We also discussed with the government how to use helicopters and cargo drones to deliver aid."

"as soon as possible"

The United Nations may also turn to Nepalese porters who are accustomed to transporting heavy loads across some of the world's toughest mountainous terrain during hiking and climbing trips.

“One of the advantages of your country is that you have porters,” Peters-Yahya said, adding that the United Nations may also resort to “these very simple means to deliver aid as quickly as possible.”

She warned that the scale of the disaster makes it difficult to avoid aid shortages, adding that “the scale of the disaster is so large that there will always be gaps” in relief operations.

On the Chinese side, official media reported that 21 people were killed and 541 others were missing in Tibet as a result of the floods, bringing the total toll from the August 26 disaster to 1,280 dead and 5,624 missing.

© 2026 AFP

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