No sign of the once busy port at flood-devastated China-Nepal Border
Around 20 'Chinese rescuers in bright orange used?excavators and shovels as well as ground-penetrating Radar detectors to search for hundreds of missing people since a tsunami mudslide damaged China's main crossing with Nepal.
The Gyirong crossing, which separates China's Tibet from Nepal, became a grim symbol of the destruction that occurred after a glacier collapsed on the Nepalese side of the border in August.
The first foreign media trip organized by China's Foreign Ministry included news agencies and the land port. It is located in a narrow gorge on a river.
Video and photos from the scene revealed that the five-storey Chinese Customs Building, which stood at the border prior to the disaster was gone. The only structure that was visible before the mudslide is a small portion of an adjacent water tower.
Workers placed a Chinese Flag at the site where the border gate stood. It was nearly 20 meters tall.
On Sunday afternoon, three groups of approximately 20 rescue workers and recovery workers plowed the ground with shovels behind hazard signs reading "Danger Area Pass Quickly".
COMPLICATED OPERATION
Officials have told us that the rescue workers have divided up the search area into seven zones. Officials said that they have finished'searching' in four of the zones, leaving three more.
More than 5,000 people are still missing after the mudslide that killed over 1,300 people both on and off the border. Emergency crews in Nepal saved a Chinese worker from a tunnel that was connected to a hydropower plant.
As of Friday, 31 people were confirmed dead on the Chinese side of border while 531 more remained missing. Chinese officials said that 261 foreigners, hailing from 23 different countries, are still missing.
Gyirong County is located at an altitude of more than 4,000 metres, but the port itself is lower at about 1,800 meters. Rescue and recovery efforts have been further complicated by the risk of landslides and poor weather, as well as deep mud.
Wednesday morning saw the reopening of Gyirong's only land route, which allowed China to send in heavy equipment for recovery and rebuilding.
The state media showed workers reconnecting the area to the grid by burying temporary electric poles.
HINDU PILGRIMAGE WEBSITE
Gyirong is the most important border crossing between Nepal and Tibet in the last decade. This was after the 2015 Nepal earthquake severely damaged another crossing further east.
A glacial flood in July last year caused the port to be closed between then and January. It was not only a shipping point for Chinese goods to Nepal, such as electric cars, but it also became a crossing 'point' for Hindu pilgrims.
Mount Kailash is a sacred site in Tibet that Hindus and Buddhists revere. Many Hindus travel to Mount Kailash through Nepal. Hindus consider it the eternal home of Lord Shiva, his wife Parvati and their children.
Diplomats in Beijing said that many of the foreigners still missing in Tibet had extended families in India. 49 Indians are among the missing.
(source: Reuters)
