Prime Minister Balendra Shah has promised the international community to “strictly raise” the issue of disasters Nepal is experiencing due to climate change.
The disaster on August 26 – a tsunami-like flood that started at the China-Nepal border – claimed more than 1,400 lives, and about 5,600 people are still missing.
B. Shah will later this month make his first foreign trip as head of government to deliver a speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on this urgent issue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai told journalists on Friday that B. Shah will speak at the UN to “draw the international community’s attention to the repeated loss of lives and property Nepal has faced due to climate change and the disasters it causes.”
Nepalese leaders say this Himalayan country needs long-term international support to adapt to the rapidly changing mountain environment.
“The total estimated reconstruction need is about 4.78 billion dollars,” Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri told journalists.
“It is estimated that about 57.67 million dollars (49.6 million euros) will be needed for short-term reconstruction and recovery over the next six months, and about 4.71 billion dollars (4 billion euros) will be required for longer-term reconstruction,” he said.
Damage assessments
Nepal – a predominantly rural country with 30 million inhabitants – emits only a small fraction of the world’s greenhouse gases compared to industrialized countries.
Although the exact cause of the glacier collapse is unclear, glaciers are melting worldwide due to climate change, increasing the risk of such disasters.
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Scientists say glaciers in the world’s highest mountain range, the Himalayas, are melting faster as global temperatures rise.
“Considering the scale and extent of the damage, the government is also conducting a comprehensive post-disaster needs assessment to determine the full extent of losses and damages and the needs for recovery, restoration, and reconstruction,” L. B. Chhetri said.
According to a preliminary UN assessment, the damage caused by the floods to buildings in Nepal amounts to 158 million dollars (136 million euros), and it is warned that total losses, including damage to roads, bridges, and agricultural land, as well as humanitarian costs, will be much higher.
Nepalese rescuers are still digging through cold mud-flooded hydroelectric tunnels, with hundreds of workers among the missing.
A few days after the disaster, three people were rescued from deep tunnels, but it has not been confirmed that anyone else survived after a Nepali was pulled out alive nearly a week ago.
The United Nations, which has issued a call to raise 50 million dollars (43 million euros) to assist more than 84,000 people, said that “operations are shifting from search and rescue to relief and recovery, although rescue efforts continue.”
Rescuers in Nepal have found and recovered the bodies of 1,385 people, and about 5,130 are missing, the disaster management agency reported on Friday. In China, 43 people died and 519 are missing, according to state media.
In total, 1,428 people have died and more than 5,649 are missing, including about 800 foreigners, including tourists and pilgrims.
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