Families Seek 500 Missing in Tibet Flood as China Withholds Official Lists
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 8
Families Seek 500 Missing in Tibet Flood as China Withholds Official Lists
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 8
Summary
Nearly two weeks after the Aug. 26 flood, families on China’s side of the Tibet-Nepal border are using social media to search for missing relatives because Beijing has not published an official list.
More than 500 people are officially missing in Gyirong, Tibet, but the full toll there remains unclear after a deluge of ice, boulders and mud ripped through the border complex.
Online users have built crowd-sourced missing-person lists, while relatives post old photos, unanswered messages and pleas under travel influencers’ accounts in hopes of finding leads.
More than 1,000 people were killed on both sides of the border, mostly in Nepal, as Chinese authorities emphasized rescue efforts and punished what they called false information about the disaster.