Rescue crews were searching Thursday for approximately 1,300 people still unaccounted for along the border between Nepal and China’s autonomous Tibet region, after flash floods and landslides devastated the area, killing at least 359 people and wiping out entire communities.
Surveillance footage captured from the Chinese side shows the terrifying moment on Wednesday morning when a wall of mud and debris swallowed a multi-story building as dozens of residents fled for their lives. The torrent, described by witnesses as resembling a tsunami, swept away buses and cars with startling ease.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the collapse of a glacier unleashed such force that the event was recorded as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event. The World Health Organization, citing Nepali authorities, said roughly 10,000 families in the country urgently need assistance following the disaster.
The scale of destruction has raised alarm among international aid groups, as search efforts continue in the remote, mountainous terrain that straddles the two countries. Officials have not yet provided a timeline for when rescue operations might conclude or when full damage assessments will be available.
Read the full original report at eltiempo.com for more details and images from the disaster zone.
Image: larry&flo, BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).