Death toll from Nepal-Tibet floods rises to 193 with nearly 1,700 missing

Families across India, Australia, Britain and more than two dozen other countries were still waiting for word on missing relatives Thursday after flash floods tore through the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday. The disaster struck when a glacial collapse sent mud and debris down the Bhotekoshi River valley, destroying villages, roads and hydropower projects. Nepal's foreign minister said an earthquake likely triggered a landslide that blocked a river, but the US Geological Survey later said the seismic energy was generated by the landslide itself, not by a tectonic event.

A preliminary assessment by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development found no anomalies on the Chinese side and concluded that a rock-ice avalanche occurred in Nepal, blocking the Lhende river and causing the cascading flood. Australia's prime minister said 34 Australians were missing, and the government described getting information from Nepal as difficult. Penny Wong, the foreign minister, said the scale of loss and destruction had been devastating and that crisis response experts had been dispatched to the region.

South Korea's foreign ministry said nine workers at a hydropower plant were missing and ten others were stranded. The United Nations said teams and partners were mobilising supplies and personnel in Nepal. The Nepal tourism board has released a country-by-country breakdown of the missing: 178 from India, 65 from the United States, 55 from Malaysia, 53 from Ukraine, 35 from Australia, 33 from Britain, nine from South Korea, nine from Singapore, eight from Germany, eight from Russia, six from South Africa, six from Latvia, five from Japan and five from New Zealand, among others.

Two British teenagers, a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, are among the unaccounted for. Rescue teams continued to search for survivors on Thursday, using helicopters to reach cut-off areas. A tourism operator in the region said he had flown over the flood zone and believed there was only a one percent chance of survival for the missing.

The United Kingdom has offered £5 million to help the Nepalese government, and India's prime minister said his country was ready to provide all possible humanitarian assistance.