Overview
- A glacier collapse earlier this week produced a wall of mud that swept down border valleys, destroying villages, roads and hydroelectric sites and burying people and infrastructure.
- Officials say about 750 people have been confirmed dead and roughly 3,044 remain unlocated while Nepal reports more than 8,100 people rescued so far.
- Rescue teams face extreme obstacles from deep, sticky mud and broken routes that slow searches and make body recovery and survivor extraction hazardous.
- Priority operations focus on buried hydroelectric projects where scores of workers may be trapped; Nepalese forces have inserted a tube into a plant tunnel to supply air as crews prepare to dig in.
- Nepal and Chinese authorities are sharing satellite and hydrological data to aid searches, responders warn of food and water shortages, and UN climate officials say warming-driven glacier change increases the chance of such sudden collapses.