A massive flood struck the Himalayan mountain region of north-central Nepal bordering China on the morning of the 26th, and on the 28th the Nepalese government put the Himalayan flood death toll at 389. As search operations continued, the number of dead more than doubled from 165 on the 27th, the day before. More than 1,200 people remain missing on both sides in Nepal and China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
In the early hours of the 28th, Nepal's disaster authorities said in addition to 389 dead, 466 were injured and 644 were missing. In Gyirong county in China's Tibet Autonomous Region, which suffered the same disaster, three deaths and 558 missing were counted. Combined on both sides, the dead and missing total about 1,600.
The Kathmandu Post in Nepal reported that more than 13,000 police, soldiers and armed police have been deployed and are conducting search operations from the source downstream. Disaster authorities also recovered bodies in the Chitwan area, about 100 kilometers from the crash site the previous day. The number rescued on the 27th alone exceeded 750. However, the northern border area where roads are cut off is accessible only by helicopter, and officials said they are facing significant difficulties in the search because of the rugged Himalayan mountain terrain. The golden time during which buried survivors can endure without water and food is 72 hours. Although 48 hours have already passed since the disaster, local rescue operations are being carried out only from sunrise to sunset.
Disaster authorities in Nepal said the missing include nationals from more than 30 countries. The U.S. State Department counted 90 of its citizens as missing. The Ukrainian government said 53, including 46 in a tour group, and the Malaysian government said more than 50 are missing. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, an itemized list of the missing by nationality showed that Indians were the most numerous at 178.
Disaster authorities in Nepal and China warned that a newly formed lake, created when landslide debris blocked the river, faces a high risk of a secondary collapse. Chinese authorities predicted that within the next three days as much as 3 million cubic meters of water will flow into the new lake, raising the water level. A rain forecast was issued locally on the 28th.
China has drawn up a large-scale recovery budget focused on the Gyirong area buried by debris and rushed in top leadership to raise the response level. President Xi Jinping ordered an all-out effort to search for the missing and evacuate residents immediately after the disaster. The next day, Premier Li Qiang arrived at the Gyirong site with 500 troops and armed police. Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing also headed to the scene with officials from relevant ministries. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management allocated 120 million yuan (about 24.7 billion won) in emergency relief funds, and the National Development and Reform Commission earmarked 100 million yuan (about 20.6 billion won) for recovery.
Support from international organizations also continued. Tom Fletcher, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, on the 27th released $2 million (about 2.8 billion won) in emergency funds and called the flood "horrifying." Alice Akunga, UNICEF's Nepal representative, said, "Children who survived the flood now face even greater risks of disease and malnutrition, as well as violence and exploitation."