Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah has thanked India and China for a fast response to flash floods that struck on August 26. Rescue teams are still searching for survivors and missing people in the worst-hit areas. Shah pointed to emergency aid from both neighbours. That help has included relief supplies, technical support, and rescue staff.
The floods wrecked large parts of Nepal and areas of China’s Tibet region. Roads, bridges, settlements, and hydropower sites were damaged. Debris and water cut mountain routes and isolated communities.
India has sent a fifth tranche of emergency material. Indian Air Force aircraft have flown several sorties with supplies. New Delhi has also offered specialised search-and-rescue help. Indian teams have worked around hydropower tunnels. They have also supported forensic identification as casualties and missing-person cases rose.
China has run rescue and recovery work on its side of the border. Authorities reopened the damaged G216 highway toward the Gyirong crossing. That reopening let heavy machinery and specialist equipment reach places that the flood had blocked.
The thanks came days after Foreign Affairs Minister Shisir Khanal called for a different model of disaster aid. He argued that India, China, and the United States should offer “climate compensation,” not only humanitarian relief. Khanal said Nepal emits little greenhouse gas but faces high risk in the Himalaya. In his view, assistance should be framed as justice, not charity. Major emitters, he said, carry a larger share of responsibility. Kathmandu is still taking emergency help from several countries and agencies while it presses that argument.
The disaster is one of Nepal’s gravest recent emergencies. Latest reports put the death toll above 1,100. Thousands remain listed as missing. A glacial collapse sent water, ice, rock, and debris down river valleys along the Nepal–China border. The surge swept away infrastructure and trapped people in several spots.
On Wednesday, Nepali rescuers kept searching hydropower tunnels. Hopes of finding anyone alive there were fading. Blocked passages slowed the teams. No survivors were found in those workings. Forensic staff are identifying recovered bodies. Other crews continue to look for the missing.
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