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Cao Jiaxuan

Beijing promised to send emergency aid to Nepal on Friday as Chinese rescuers battled through hazardous conditions to reach the border checkpoint hit by deadly flash floods this week.
The disaster left five dead and 558 missing in Tibet’s Gyirong county, while Nepal reported 579 dead and 1,924 missing as of 7pm on Friday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence to his Nepalese counterpart, Ram Chandra Paudel, following the devastating mudslides, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Xi also chaired a meeting of the Politburo that promised to send “urgent emergency assistance” and offered “international rescue cooperation” with Nepal, state news agency Xinhua reported.
“Search and rescue operations face extreme difficulty due to the high-altitude, frigid environment, steep valleys, volatile weather and lingering geological hazards from surrounding glaciers and glacial lakes,” the Politburo said.
Despite these hazardous conditions, the first team of 21 firefighters and a rescue dog reached the worst-hit area of Gyirong checkpoint around 5pm on Friday, according to state media.


Video footage released by China Fire and Rescue showed the first responders crossing the muddy terrain on foot and scrambling up slopes to search for survivors and calling “is anyone there?”.
The footage showed that structures near the border crossing had been completely destroyed, with the ground choked by mud and rock. A massive boulder – standing more than twice the height of a human – blocked the road.
Other rescue teams travelled along the flooded waterways in inflatable boats, while high-capacity drones dropped firefighters in the disaster zone.
The Politburo ordered the strict monitoring of a lake formed by debris from the landslide near the Gyirong Port border crossing, which has started to overflow.
CCTV said the lake was thought to have grown by around 25 per cent on Friday, swelling to more than 2.5 million cubic metres of water, the equivalent of 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Friday’s Politburo meeting, which began with a moment of silence for the victims, called for a “scientific and well-targeted” search and rescue plan to find all those still missing.
Such a public act of mourning by China’s top leadership is unusual, typically occurring only during major national disasters or official state commemorations.
The last time this happened was in April 2020, when Xi and other top leaders observed a moment of silence at the leadership compound at Zhongnanhai to honour victims and frontline workers who died during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Politburo also called for better international cooperation on border disaster management, the proper resettlement of displaced residents and strict site management to protect emergency workers.
The meeting also ordered a “full-scale screening of disaster hazards to mitigate lingering risks”, and called for “an urgent inventory of glaciers and glacial lakes across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau” alongside enhanced real-time monitoring to better identify disaster risks.




The Politburo also called for better emergency response mechanisms by establishing “linked upstream and downstream warning networks” and enforcing strict evacuation measures, including designated escape routes and temporary shelters for vulnerable communities.
It also ordered a targeted expansion of fire and engineering response forces in vulnerable high-altitude and border regions, including “upgraded response capabilities” when electricity supplies, roads or communication networks were cut off.
Meanwhile, international concerns are mounting over the scale of the loss.
US President Donald Trump said there were “50, maybe 60” Americans missing and pledged to offer Nepal “any help they need”.
“We are sending aid, and we’ve spoken to the leadership, and we’ve let them know anything they know we’ll have,” he said.
On Thursday, the Nepalese authorities released a list of 537 foreign nationals missing in the wake of the floods, including 178 Indian citizens, 65 Americans, 53 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 35 Australians and 33 Britons.
Premier Li Qiang, who arrived in Gyirong on Thursday to direct rescue responses, inspected the disaster-hit area and called for measures to prevent further disasters.
According to Xinhua, he also called for prompt disease controls and said all information about casualties and relief operations must be released in an open and transparent manner.
Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that official assessments from both countries had concluded the disaster “originated from a high-altitude glacier collapse in Nepal”.
China’s Ministry of Natural Resources released dramatic before-and-after 3D imagery of the Gyirong debris flow, showing how buildings, bridges and roads had been completely erased.

“Upon slamming into the main Gyirong Zangbo riverbed, the high-velocity debris flow surged nearly 3km [1.8 miles] upstream against the natural current,” Guo Zhaocheng, a senior remote-sensing engineer from the ministry, told CCTV.
He said the destructive power of this event was far in excess of last year’s flooding that sent a wall of water surging down the Bhotekoshi River, destroying the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge at Gyirong and killing 17 people.
“The collapse originated at an altitude of approximately 5,140 metres [16,900 feet], whereas Gyirong Port sits at around 1,800 metres – a massive drop of nearly 3,300 metres within just 20km,” Guo said.
The debris flow took only seven minutes to reach the border crossing, travelling at an estimated average speed of 50 metres per second, Guo said.
The disaster followed repeated warnings from scientists that climate change is destabilising the high Himalayas, especially its permafrost.

This frozen mixture of rock, soil and ice acts as a type of natural glue that holds mountain sides together, but as it starts to thaw, the risk of catastrophic landslides increases.
Scientists have warned that such accidents may become more frequent as a result of global warming.
Last year, the Swiss village of Blatten was largely destroyed by torrent of ice, mud and rock when a massive section of the Birch Glacier collapsed.
The village’s 300 or so residents had been evacuated weeks before the disaster, which killed one local man.


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Chinese rescuers reach checkpoint destroyed by deadly flash floods along Nepal border

The first rescue teams reached the border crossing in Gyirong. Photo: CCTV

A staff member checks the phone numbers of evacuees in Jifu, a village in Tibet. Photo: Xinhua

Rescue teams battle their way through challenging conditions. Photo: Reuters

In Gyirong county, a medical worker gives a girl a check-up on Thursday after the disaster. Photo: Xinhua

‘Massive casualties’ after flash floods, landslide strike China-Nepal border

The landslide struck Tibet's Gyirong county at around 9am on Wednesday, causing major casualties and leaving a number of people missing, according to state media. Photo: Handout

Footage circulating online shows people on the ground fleeing, moments before the disaster strikes. Photo: Handout

The disaster has cut off roads leading to the port, as well as communications and power supplies, according to the Gyirong county emergency management bureau. Photo: Xinhua

A team from an emergency response company firm deployed to the disaster zone has brought large-scale construction machinery and advanced gear, including reconnaissance drones, according to state media. Photo: Handout

A combination of satellite images shows the valleys near the Nepal-China border on Tuesday, before the devastating landslide and floods (top), and on Wednesday, after the disaster.  Photo: 2026 PLANET LABS PBC via Reuters

The authorities have closed the roads leading to the disaster site for the next seven days. Photo: Handout

China-Nepal floods: debris lake the size of 1,000 Olympic pools in breach danger

A barrier lake has formed after the debris flow from Wednesday’s mudslide in Nepal blocked a river upstream from Gyirong Port on the Chinese side of the border. Photo: Xinhua

A composite of satellite images showing the scale of the disaster at Gyirong Port. The image on the left was taken on Wednesday while the one on the right is the same location in January. Photo: Xinhua

China-Nepal flash flood: 392 dead and over 1,000 missing, including hundreds of foreigners

A rescuer helps a resident through heavy mud following flash floods in Trishuli, Nepal. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Chinese rescuers prepare to head to the stricken Gyirong Port in southwest Tibet on August 27. Photo: Xinhua

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Footage taken at Gyirong Port in Tibet shows scenes of utter devastation following disaster that killed hundreds of people


Footage taken at Gyirong Port in Tibet shows scenes of utter devastation following disaster that killed hundreds of people.


Chinese rescuers reach checkpoint destroyed by deadly flash floods along Nepal border

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Footage taken at Gyirong Port in Tibet shows scenes of utter devastation following disaster that killed hundreds of people

Footage taken at Gyirong Port in Tibet shows scenes of utter devastation following disaster that killed hundreds of people