Nepal’s Flood Nightmare Is Far From Over. Here's Why | The Palki Sharma Show

It's day seven of rescue efforts in Nepal. The floods came last Wednesday. Seven days later, the rescue operation is nowhere close to an end. And this is important because in most disasters, by the seventh day, the world starts talking about recovery, about rebuilding, about what comes next. But in Nepal, the search is still on. Let me give you a glimpse into what this looks like. Nepal is discovering new bodies every single day, so much so that they don't have enough space to keep them all. They're digging mass graves to bury them. In one instance, the Nepal police discovered 24 bodies from one house, 24 bodies from a single house. Imagine that. As of today, more than 1,000 people are confirmed dead. More than 4,000 are still missing. And even as rescue teams dig through the destruction, there is a new fear. What if the mountain is not done? What if another flood is coming? Because high up in the Himalayas, the landscape that caused this has still not fully stabilized. The flood happened because a glacier broke. A massive rock of ice collapsed. It left behind a crater. And that crater is shrinking. It still holds an enormous volume of water. And so it poses a significant threat. Nepal has issued a new flood alert. Water levels are rising again in the Bhote Koshi River. This is the river that overflowed during the floods. Its water levels are rising dangerously again. And the weather is adding to the challenge. There is heavy rain in Nepal, so the fear of another flash flood is real, which means the country has to remain vigilant. After what they've just suffered, no one is taking the possibility of another flood lightly. The army has deployed thousands of personnel. Soldiers are moving through forests, hills, riverbanks, and entire settlements buried under mud. They're looking for people. They're clearing roads, recovering bodies, and trying to reach the most difficult places, including the hydropower tunnels. Let me show you where they are in our map room. Now this is where the tunnels are. Hundreds of workers were inside these tunnels when the flood hit. They were working here, especially in the Trishuli 3A project. And they got trapped. There's a race to save them, a race against mud, water, and time. Teams have been pumping air into the tunnels. They're draining water. They're blasting mountains. Indian tunnel experts are helping them. But it's not easy. In some places, they're facing thick layers of sludge. Despite everything, authorities are persisting, holding on to hope, hope that the people inside may still be alive. As you know, this is the Himalayas, and there are narrow gorges there. So the area is very difficult. That's why we have to be very careful and cautious before even starting any rescue operation, relief operation. So as you know, the gorge is really deep and steep. So that's the difficulty, the geographical difficulties there. As the rescue continues, anger is also growing. In Kathmandu, walls have been covered with photographs, pictures of people who have disappeared. Families are walking from hospital to hospital, from shelter to shelter, searching through photographs of the dead, hoping to find their relatives, or perhaps hoping not to. Now, our only hope is that even if we don't find them alive, we at least find their bodies. That is our only hope. We don't have any hope of them being alive, as it has already been five to six days. There is no way to identify the body. There were no marks on his body either, so we cannot identify him. I request anyone to contact us if they have seen him in any condition. For many of them, the question is now turning into anger. Could this have been handled better? Could people have been warned earlier? Could the rescue have started faster? The government is yet to comment, but there is a new statement from Bali Inder Shah, Nepal's Gen Z Prime Minister, and he is blaming climate action for this tragedy. Let me read out from what he said. The flood in the Botekoshi River in Rasuwa was not an ordinary flood. It was one of the region's major disasters, triggered by an avalanche of snow and ice in the Himalayan region. This incident indicates that the risks we face in the Himalayan region are increasing alongside climate change. And his argument is taking that even further. Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal gave an interview. He says Nepal will raise the disaster at international forums, not as a question of charity or aid, but as a question of climate justice. Contributes less than a tenth of a percent in greenhouse gases, but industrialized nations contribution is significantly higher. So we view that this should be, the support to Nepal should not be just seen from an angle of aids or charity, but should be seen from the perspective of climate justice as well. It's not a wrong argument, but that still leaves one immediate problem. Responsibility tomorrow does not save someone today, and Nepal knows that. They can have their justice later, but what about the challenge at hand? It is a test for Balen Shah's government. The cost of rebuilding could be as much as ten percent of the economy. That's around four to five billion dollars. It will be an uphill task for the government. And while Kathmandu struggles to manage the crisis on the other side of the border in Tibet, China is having no such problems. They're not just managing the flood, they're also managing the information. China has punished ten people. For what? For spreading online rumors. That's what Chinese authorities say. They have removed videos and unofficial accounts. They're going after people who post about the number of dead and missing people. Anything other than the official numbers will face the wrath of the state. Obviously Beijing says it is fighting misinformation, but given China's history, this crackdown has sparked questions about transparency, about whether the state is underplaying the scale of the loss. At this point, your guess is as good as mine. So that's where we are at on day seven. Rescue efforts are underway amid the threat of another flood.