Nepal flood death toll passes 1,000

The death toll from last week's catastrophic floods in Nepal and Tibet surpassed 1000 on Tuesday, with about 4,000 people, including 590 foreign nationals from 39 countries, still missing, as fresh rainfall pushed up river levels and forced rescuers to move to higher ground.

Rescue operations have been suspended several times since Friday because of severe weather and fears of further flooding. Authorities have been monitoring lakes and temporary dams formed by landslides following Wednesday's glacier collapse along the Nepal-China border.

The Red Cross estimates that more than 90,000 people may have been affected by the disaster, which Chinese authorities have linked to the long-term effects of climate change.

A considerable focus of the rescue efforts has been on several power stations where authorities estimate that about 639 people are stuck and waiting to be rescued. 

So far, 11,000 people have been rescued following efforts from 9,200 personnel deployed in the search and rescue efforts in affected regions.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Nepalese counterpart during a telephone call on Saturday that the mudslide was the two countries' "most severe cross-border disaster" in recent years, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

He said the rescue operation was facing unprecedented levels of difficulty and complexity.

Rescue efforts focus on hydropower tunnels

In Nepal, rescue teams are concentrating their efforts on hundreds of people believed to be trapped inside tunnels at hydropower plants after torrents of ice, rock, mud and debris swept through Himalayan river systems.

Nepal's disaster authority said the country's death toll had risen to 734, while 2,498 people remained missing and 7,514 had been rescued.

In China's Gyirong County, 16 people had died by Saturday evening and 546 were still missing, officials in Tibet said.

Among the 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries missing on the Tibetan side were 104 Nepalese citizens, 49 Indians, 33 Latvians, 18 Americans and 15 Britons, according to Chinese officials.

Beijing and Kathmandu are working together to identify missing citizens and foreign nationals, while also strengthening cooperation on disaster prevention, mitigation and climate-change response.

• U.S. announces $3.6m in aid for flood-hit Nepal as rescue efforts continue

Fresh rain raises river levels in Nepal

Water levels in Nepal's Trishuli River rose on Sunday following fresh rainfall, prompting residents and rescue workers to move to higher ground, police told Reuters.

Nepal has said it does not require foreign assistance for general rescue operations, but Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri said specialist support was needed in several areas.

These include tunnel rescues, DNA testing, refrigerated storage for bodies and the forensic identification of decomposed remains.

Indian and Chinese experts are already assisting efforts to gain access to blocked tunnels, Chhetri said.

• Death toll from Nepal floods climbs to 469 as more than a thousand still missing

New landslide raises fresh flood concerns

A lake that formed upstream after the initial disaster and threatened rescue operations had largely drained by Saturday evening, according to CCTV.

However, drones detected another landslide late on Saturday about 2.8 kilometres downstream of the lake. The landslide created a new natural dam and another pool of water, renewing fears of additional flooding.

Authorities moved rescue personnel near the Gyirong border crossing to safer areas as a precaution.

China links disaster to climate change

Chinese state media said the flooding was caused by glacier instability linked to the long-term effects of global warming.

CCTV described the disaster as a "new and prominent feature of cryosphere disasters" on the Tibetan plateau.

Chinese scientists said the mudslide originating on the Nepalese side of the border took only six to seven minutes to reach the Gyirong border crossing.

Surveillance footage shared widely online showed powerful torrents of water, mud and debris sweeping through buildings as people attempted to escape.

• China prepares for more heavy rain from back-to-back storms

More than 2,100 rescue workers deployed

China has mobilised more than 2,100 rescue workers and allocated at least 220 million yuan ($32.7 million) to relief operations.

Beijing is also providing Nepal with emergency financial assistance, disaster-relief supplies, satellite and hydrological data, and specialist tunnel rescue teams.

Heavy-lift drones have been deployed alongside helicopters to transport equipment and supplies to frontline rescue teams near the border.

Soldiers and emergency crews are also using life-detection equipment, drones and navigation systems as the search continues for thousands of people who remain missing.

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