Nepal has estimated that rebuilding after deadly floods triggered by a glacial mountain collapse last month will cost about $4.78 billion, the country’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
The August 26 disaster, which began with a tsunami-like flood on the China-Nepal border, has killed more than 1,400 people and left more than 5,600 missing.
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority has said that the number of confirmed deaths in the country had risen to 1,385, with 5,130 people still missing.
Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai said Prime Minister Balendra Shah would address the UN General Assembly later this month to draw international attention to the repeated loss of life and property caused by climate-related disasters.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri said about $57.67 million would be needed for short-term recovery over the next six months, while $4.71 billion would be required for longer-term reconstruction.
Damage assessment
The government is conducting a comprehensive post-disaster assessment to determine the full scale of damage and the needs for recovery and rebuilding, Chhetri said.
A preliminary UN assessment put building damage at $158 million, warning that losses including damage to roads, bridges and farmland, as well as humanitarian costs, would be much higher.
Rescuers are still searching hydropower tunnels filled with freezing mud, with hundreds of workers among the missing. Three people were rescued from tunnels in the days after the disaster, but no further survivors have been confirmed since a Chinese man was found alive nearly a week later.
The UN has launched a $50 million appeal to support more than 84,000 people and said operations were shifting from search and rescue to relief and recovery, although rescue efforts continued.
Nepal’s disaster agency said on Friday that 1,385 bodies had been recovered and about 5,130 people remained missing. Chinese state media reported 43 deaths and 519 missing in China.
The combined toll stands at 1,428 dead and more than 5,649 missing, including about 800 foreigners, among them tourists and pilgrims.
Nepal, a country of about 30 million people, contributes only a small share of global greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists say rising global temperatures are accelerating glacier melt in the Himalayas and increasing the risk of such disasters.
