As devastating floods and landslides that struck the Nepal–China Tibet border area left hundreds dead and more than 3,000 missing, the number of deaths released as of the 30th by China and Nepal differs by a factor of 42, at 16 and 675, respectively.
Experts said the reason for such a large gap, even though the same glacier collapsed and the same flow of water swept over both countries, is that in disaster statistics a person is defined as dead only after the body is found and the identity is confirmed. On the Chinese side, which sits relatively upstream and where debris has piled up deeply, search operations are still facing difficulties.
On the 30th, authorities in China's Tibet Autonomous Region said that as of the evening of the 29th, 16 people had died and 546 were missing in the disaster site of Gyirong County. Nepal's disaster authorities said 675 people had died and 2,498 were missing on their side. In China, deaths account for 2.8% of the 562 dead and missing, while in Nepal they account for 21.3% of the 3,173.
At disaster sites, the line between the dead and the missing is whether a body has been found. Whether swept away by water or buried under earth, only when a body is recovered and the identity is confirmed is the person listed among the dead. If not found, the person remains missing even if survival is deemed unlikely.
Reuters and other foreign media reported that most of the bodies on the Nepal side were found more than 100 kilometers downstream from the disaster site, Rasuwagadhi, along the river. The floods and landslides began in the Rendekhola area near the China–Nepal border, flowed through Nepal's Bhotekoshi River and Trishuli River, and moved south. The bodies also drifted along that waterway. The lower reaches of these rivers are wide and the terrain is flat, allowing search teams to walk along the banks to sweep the area. According to Nepalese authorities, 233 bodies were recovered in downstream Chitwan and 158 in Nawalparasi East. Only 13 bodies were found at the accident point of Rasuwagadhi.
By contrast, on the Chinese side, the Gyirong trade port lies about 20 kilometers below the point where the glacier collapsed, at the very top of the path the floodwaters traveled. It is believed highly likely that victims swept away by the torrent there were carried straight across the border downstream into Nepal. Victims who were inside the border facilities of the Gyirong trade port at the time of the disaster were buried under a debris flow of ice, rocks, and mud. The bodies of those currently classified as missing are expected to be recovered only after the rubble is excavated.
Nepal began search operations immediately from the downstream on the 26th, right after the disaster occurred. But Chinese rescue teams did not reach the Chinese disaster site of the Gyirong trade port until the 28th, two days after the disaster. Citing an official, AP reported that "with roads and bridges to Gyirong cut off, 21 search personnel climbed over mountains and fixed ropes to cliffs to get in with one search dog." Zhou Mingchi, a rescuer who took part in the operation, said, "All that was visible was ruins." Wang Yi, China's minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also said in a call with Nepal's foreign minister on the 29th that "the rescue work is unprecedentedly difficult and complex."
The death toll on the Chinese side has been inching up with each release. The number of deaths, which was seven on the 27th, rose to 16 as of the evening of the 29th. Major outlets reported that some of the 546 missing will be moved to the death roll as bodies are recovered.
On the same day, Chinese disaster authorities said that of the 546 missing on the Chinese side, 261 were foreigners from 23 countries. They account for 47.8%, close to half of the missing. The Gyirong trade port is the gateway to the Mount Kailash pilgrimage route in Tibet, and Hindu pilgrims and foreign tourists pass through regularly.