Survivors Say Nepal-china Flooding Hit ‘ Like A Tsunami’ As Rescue Efforts Resume

Two of the only known US nationals to survive the flood told CNN that the water from the catastrophic floods came down the mountain “like a tsunami.”

Indian-American couple Anjana Raja, 52, and Pattabiraman Venkatesan, 56, were on a guided tour in Nepal when the disaster struck.

They spoke to CNN’s Will Ripley in Kathmandu telling him that they only survived because their tour guide rushed them up the mountain to higher ground.

Meanwhile, Chinese families are looking to social media for information about missing loved ones, more than two days devastating floods hit the China-Nepal border.

“The whole family is very worried,” a woman in Sichuan province told CNN. She had lost contact midday Wednesday with her brother, who was working in the area of Tibet that was most impacted.

Her brother was working on railway construction about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from Gyirong Port before going missing, the woman posted on the Chinese social media platform RedNote. The port was engulfed by a mudslide on Wednesday and remains the epicenter of rescue efforts.

The woman, who declined to be quoted by name, said she had already reported her brother’s disappearance to local police and had yet to receive any updates.

Another Red Note user on Thursday posted: “Seeking help from locals at Gyirong Port. My cousin, who serves as a border guard there, has been out of contact. What should we do? He has two children at home.”

“What’s the situation at Gyirong Port? My sister works there and I haven’t been able to reach her…” read another post on the platform from a user in Yunnan province, who in a later post said they traveled to into the neighboring region of Tibet.

China’s National Immigration Administration acknowledged there are port employees missing in a Friday social media post.

Information from impacted areas in China has been slow to emerge and is dominated by official state agencies in China’s tightly controlled media environment. That cuts a contrast to Nepal, where authorities and other sources have provided more frequent updates.

China’s social media censorship machine appears to have kicked in soon after the disaster struck, with videos of the disaster filmed on the ground removed from platforms — a situation that rights groups say makes it harder for families to get a sense of their loved ones’ whereabouts.

As of 3 p.m. Friday local time, five people had been confirmed dead and 558 remained missing on the Chinese side, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

CNN reports, China’s first professional rescue team has finally reached the area most affected by the catastrophic landslides.

A total of 16 firefighters and one rescue dog made it to the Gyirong port, on the China-Nepal border, on Friday afternoon, according to state media Xinhua.

The rescue mission had been suspended earlier due to the fear of secondary disasters caused by the overflowing barrier lake upstream of the town.

The team was using a “water, land and air” approach in the mission. Some rescuers were using inflatable boats to navigate the river, two rescue teams were crossing the mountains by foot, while heavy-lift drones are transporting firefighters into affected areas.

SOURCE: CNN