Nepal will have to rebuild about 20,000 homes after the flood

Authorities in Nepal are assessing the scale of the destruction caused by last week's catastrophic flood.

According to preliminary estimates, about 20,000 homes in the affected areas will have to be repaired or rebuilt from scratch.

Rescue services are continuing search operations in the areas of hydropower facilities, where workers may remain trapped in tunnels. At the same time, thousands of residents of the country are still listed as missing.

The natural disaster occurred on August 26. According to experts, the destructive flood may have been caused by the collapse of a glacier, after which a powerful flow of water, ice, rocks and mud rushed into Nepal's border areas.

The flow destroyed homes, settlements and infrastructure facilities. Many buildings were completely washed away by the water or were buried under a thick layer of mud and debris

Dharma Raj Upreti, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, reported that about 7,500 houses are preliminarily considered completely destroyed. According to him, this includes both buildings washed away by the flood and those that were buried under mud and debris.

At the same time, the damage turned out to be so extensive that it is not only completely destroyed buildings that are subject to reconstruction. Even some houses that retained their structure after the flood are now unfit for habitation. In this regard, the authorities estimate the total number of homes that will need to be restored at approximately 20,000.

The flood led to numerous casualties. According to the latest data, at least 1,204 people died. Flows of water carrying ice, rocks and mud inundated residential areas, streets and schools in settlements located near Nepal's border with China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

More than 4,200 people are still considered missing. Thousands of residents were forced to leave their homes and are in need of shelter and humanitarian aid.

Source: Reuters