News India Times

www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know Nepal Seeks Climate Compensation From China, US And India N epal is demanding climate compensation from the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases after deadly floods in the country killed more than a thousand people and left even more miss- ing. China, the US and India have made “extremely large” contributions to climate change and left smaller nations “enduring the price of it,” Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told Kantipur TV. “Nepal must hold its head high internationally and turn this into a matter of justice,” he said in the interview, which was broadcast earlier this week. “We will raise this matter explicitly and forcefully on international plat- forms.” Nepal’s demand for climate compensation follows the Aug. 26 flash floods in the Bhotekoshi River basin, triggered by a massive rock and ice collapse near the Nepal-Tibet border. The official death toll has risen to 1,114, with nearly 4,000 people still missing, according to authorities, as floodwaters destroyed homes, key bridges and critical hydropower infrastructure. The demand comes ahead of the United Nations’ annual climate summit in November, where developing nations are expected to press wealthier, high-emitting countries for more funding to cover climate-related losses and damage. Nepal’s push adds to a broader de- bate over who should bear the financial cost of disasters linked to a warming planet. “Nepal cannot reduce the world’s emissions on behalf of the polluters. It cannot protect the Himalayas through adaptation alone while the world continues to burn more fossil fuels,” the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, a civil society coalition of 200 international groups, said in a statement on Tuesday. “And it should not have to take on more debt to protect its people from a crisis overwhelmingly created elsewhere.” In the interview, Khanal said that Nepal has sought urgent relief from the UN’s Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, set up to help vulnerable countries recover from climate-related disasters. According to local media, officials said in a letter to the fund that recovery costs far exceed domestic resources and that waiting for its board to meet in December would be too late. Representatives for Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Environment and the UN’s Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage did not immediately respond to requests for comment. - Bloomberg By Azman Usmani Nepal Must Rebuild Thousands Of Homes, No Letup In Search For Missing N epal will have to rebuild around 20,000 houses in flood-ravaged areas, authorities said on Thursday, as rescuers continued to search for workers trapped in tunnels linked to hydro- power projects and thousands remain missing after last week’s catastrophe. A glacier collapse on August 26 sent a deluge of ice, rock and mud sweeping through the impoverished nation’s border region with China, wiping out settle- ments and villages and leaving few houses standing and undamaged. “Our preliminary estimates are that 7,500 houses have been completely destroyed, either washed away or bur- ied under debris and mud,” Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, told Reuters. Even houses still standing were not habitable, Upreti said, with authorities estimating that around 20,000 would have to be rebuilt in different, safer locations. “We anticipate that the resources required for rebuild- ing will be substantial,” Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told foreign ambassadors in Kathmandu. At least 1,252 people were killed in Nepal last week as houses, streets and schools in towns and villages near the border with China’s Tibet were swept away. More than 4,200 people are still missing and thousands more displaced. China has put the death toll in Tibet at 21, with 541 others listed as missing. Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s cabinet set Septem- ber 7, the 13th day after the disaster, as a day of national mourning in Nepal, the cabinet spokesperson said. In Hindu tradition, the 13th day traditionally marks the end of the formal mourning period. SEARCH FOR MISSING CONTINUES More than 9,300 Nepali army troops were on the ground in the affected areas of Timure in Rasuwa, Nu- wakot, Dhading, Chitwan and Nawalparasi East, coor- dinating search and rescue of the injured and helping with management of bodies, clearing blocked roads, and providing emergency medical treatment, an army state- ment said. An Australian medical student whose partner went missing near the Nepal-China border urged tech compa- nies to do more to help find him and others caught up in the disaster by sharing tracking data that could narrow the search areas for rescue teams. At least 583 foreign nationals were missing in the floods, Nepal said on Thursday, many of them pilgrims and trekkers. An army officer, who spoke on condition of anonym- ity as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the search was continuing with experts from India, South Korea and China for at least 900 survivors believed to be trapped in the tunnels related to hydropower projects. Army spokesperson Raja Ram Basnet said two bodies had been recovered from the tunnel of Langtang Khola hydropower plant. Australia pledged additional support and said it would also share telecommunications data with Nepali authori- ties. China has sent a third batch of aid to Nepal, includ- ing tents, blankets, medical protective suits and satellite communication equipment, the foreign ministry said, adding that the weather offices of the two countries were in contact with each other. Reports on the rescue efforts in Tibet, largely provided by Chinese state media as foreign reporters’ access to the region is restricted, have slowed a day after the G216 national highway leading to the site was reopened. Both China and Nepal have said the floods were a result of climate change, with foreign minister Khanal telling ambassadors that the disaster had a “deeper sig- nificance” beyond the immediate emergency. “Nepal contributes a negligible share of global emis- sions, yet our people bear a disproportionate burden of the impacts of a warming Himalayas,” he said. GETTING CHILDREN BACK TO SCHOOL Authorities were working to restore regular routines as much as possible, with a focus on getting children into makeshift schools. More than a week after the flood, at least 22,000 chil- dren urgently need safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene support, UNICEF said in a statement. “Our priority is to restore normal life. We are consider- ing if children can be taught in the holding centers,” said Phanindra Paudel, an official at Nepal’s National Emer- gency Operation Centre. Finding safe buildings in which to hold classes was a challenge, teachers said. “We are looking for safe, empty buildings or other schools where we can resume classes. The school build- ing was completely washed away, so we will have to build a new one in a safer location,” said Rajendra Dawadi, headmaster of a school, who helped save about 900 stu- dents by evacuating them in time. Shanti Sunar, 45, escaped the disaster with her hus- band but lost her house and a small shop she ran. “I have been visiting the site almost every day. I can recognize where our house stood, but there is no trace of it now. We cannot rebuild at the same location because it is not safe. I expect the government to relocate us to a safer place.” - Reuters By Gopal Sharma, Liz Lee and EthanWang PHOTO:CNSPHOTOVIA REUTERS PHOTO:REUTERS/ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA Rescue workers conduct search and rescue operations at the core disaster-hit area at Gyirong Port following the August 26 mudslide, in Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China September 2, 2026. Relatives of Sabin Timalsina, 21, mourn during his cremation rituals using an effigy as his body remained missing following the deadly flash floods and mudslide, on the premises of Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 2, 2026. News India Times (September 5, 2026 - September 11, 2026) September 11, 2026 12 Nepal