分类： world

On Thursday, extreme downpours swept through Japan’s north-central prefectures of Ishikawa and Toyama, unleashing catastrophic flooding and destructive landslides that shut down key transport routes and left dozens of residents trapped in submerged homes and stranded vehicles across the region.

In response to the rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued its highest-level Level 5 heavy rain warning for multiple affected districts across the two prefectures, immediately calling on all local residents to enact urgent safety protocols to avoid harm from imminent flood and landslide risks.

By the end of Thursday, rainfall intensity had decreased significantly across the impacted zones, allowing the JMA to downgrade the alert to a lower, medium-level warning. Even as the immediate downpour eased, agency officials stressed that residual risks remained high, warning residents that additional precipitation and new landslide activity could still occur through Friday morning.

Forecasting data from the JMA projects total accumulated rainfall could reach as high as 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) across the Kaga and Noto regions between the onset of the storm and Friday morning. In line with the national weather agency’s alert, prefectural-level authorities issued evacuation orders and guidance for more than 380,000 residents, urging them to relocate to designated higher-ground emergency shelters immediately.

Footage captured by Japan’s national public broadcaster NHK showed emergency response teams conducting life-saving rescues in Himi City, Toyama Prefecture. Rescuers waded through chest-deep floodwaters to extract stranded residents, who were ferried to safety aboard inflatable rubber rescue rafts. Along inundated city roads, dozens of vehicles that stalled after their engines ingested floodwater were left abandoned by their owners.

In neighboring Ishikawa Prefecture, located just west of Toyama, floodwaters cut off road access to 270 residential properties across three local municipalities, completely isolating the communities. As of the latest official update, however, prefectural disaster management officials have confirmed no reports of injuries or fatalities among the isolated residents. Beyond flooding, the heavy rain also triggered multiple small landslides across Ishikawa that forced the permanent or temporary closure of dozens of regional roads.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, Japan’s top government spokesperson, confirmed in a public briefing that multiple rivers across both prefectures had spilled past their banks, inundating hundreds of residential properties. Echoing local officials, Kihara also confirmed that no injuries or deaths had been reported in connection with the flooding as of Thursday evening.

Regional power provider Hokuriku Electric Power Co. reported that the severe weather knocked out electricity service to more than 1,000 homes across both Ishikawa and Toyama, with repair crews standing by to restore service once floodwaters recede and hazard risks subside.

This latest extreme rain event comes less than a month after another devastating flood disaster in Japan: earlier this July, heavy downpours and widespread flooding in Chiba Prefecture, located just east of Tokyo, claimed the lives of 13 people.

A catastrophic glacial collapse-triggered flash flood sweeping across the border region between Nepal and China’s Tibet Autonomous Region has left a devastating trail of death and disappearance, with more than 100 of the 1,300+ missing people being pilgrims bound for one of the Himalayas’ most revered sacred sites, Mount Kailash. As of the latest official updates, the disaster has claimed at least 168 lives, forced hundreds of local residents from their homes, and sparked global concern over the safety of travelers in the increasingly climate-vulnerable Himalayan region.

Standing at more than 6,400 meters above sea level in southwestern Tibet, adjacent to the glacial Lake Manasarovar and near the tri-border junction of China, Nepal and India, Mount Kailash has occupied a central sacred role across multiple major religious and spiritual traditions for more than a thousand years. Its importance stretches across Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and the indigenous Tibetan Bon religion, each weaving the mountain into their unique spiritual cosmologies and sacred histories.

For Hindu believers, the jagged snow-capped peak is widely recognized as the earthly home of Shiva, the god of destruction and transformation, and his consort Parvati, the goddess of marriage, fertility and maternal care. Both the mountain and nearby Lake Manasarovar have been referenced in ancient Sanskrit religious texts and literary works dating back centuries. In Buddhist and Hindu cosmology, Mount Kailash is also identified with the mythical Mount Meru, the mythic axis mundi that forms the center of the entire world. Followers of the Tibetan Bon tradition, meanwhile, venerate the peak as a stronghold of spiritual power, linking it directly to Tonpa Shenrab, the faith’s founding figure. Even Sikhism has connections to the site: one enduring local legend tells of Guru Nanak, Sikhism’s founder, teaching villagers that the true pilgrimage to Kailash is an inward spiritual journey, not just a physical trek to the mountain.

Every year between June and early September, thousands of pilgrims from across the globe travel to the region to complete the sacred ritual of the Kailash circuit. Unlike many famous mountain peaks that draw adventure climbers, Mount Kailash is never summited by traditional pilgrims, who instead complete a 53-kilometer walking circuit around its base. This multi-day journey is believed to purify the pilgrim of accumulated sins. Different traditions follow different directions for the walk: Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims circle clockwise, while Bon followers travel counterclockwise. Along the route, Tibetan pilgrims stop at ancient monasteries and other sacred landmarks, performing rituals that range from pressing prayer beads to sacred rock formations to tests of spiritual merit. Many Hindu pilgrims also complete a ritual purification bath in the frigid waters of nearby Lake Manasarovar. Today, organized pilgrimages are run officially by the Indian government through routes in Uttarakhand and Sikkim, while private tour operators also arrange trips through Nepalese border crossings.

The recent flood disaster has painted a tragic backdrop to this centuries-old tradition. Official figures confirm that Nepal has recorded 165 deaths and 826 missing people, while Tibet has reported 3 deaths and 558 people unaccounted for, with hundreds of the missing being foreign nationals. Nepal’s tourism board reports that 179 of the missing are Indian citizens, most of whom were traveling to or returning from Mount Kailash. Other missing international travelers include 65 from the United States, 35 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom and 25 from Canada. Among the groups affected were 77 people returning from the mountain with pilgrimage groups organized by the Isha Foundation, led by well-known Indian spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev (also called Sadhguru), who were caught in the flood while staying at an immigration center in Gyirong, Tibet.

The disaster was triggered when a destabilized glacier collapsed, sending a massive surge of water, ice and debris roaring downstream through river valleys on both sides of the China-Nepal border. Climate scientists warn that this type of catastrophic glacial outburst flood is becoming increasingly common in the Himalayas as rising global temperatures melt and destabilize the region’s vast glacial ice reserves, putting growing numbers of local communities and travelers at risk.
This report is the product of Associated Press religion coverage, produced through AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP retains full editorial responsibility for all content.

On Wednesday, a massive glacial collapse in the Tibet region unleashed catastrophic flash flooding across the mountainous border area shared by China and Nepal, triggering one of the deadliest Himalayan disasters in recent memory. As of Thursday, official tallies from both national governments confirm more than 160 people have been killed, with more than 1,300 others unaccounted for — a large share of whom are foreign visitors traveling for trekking expeditions or religious pilgrimage to a revered Hindu sacred site.

Disaster response teams have cautioned that the number of missing people remains inconsistent across different agencies, due to gaps in data collection timelines, differing verification protocols, and coordination lags between teams compiling casualty records and crews conducting on-the-ground search and rescue operations in the hard-to-reach affected zone.

In Nepal, local police have recorded at least 165 fatalities connected to the disaster, with 826 people registered as missing. According to local media citing the country’s National Emergency Operation Center, the missing on Nepal’s side include 113 Nepali tourists, 85 army and police security personnel, 161 residents from Rasuwa district, and one resident from Nuwakot district. By late Thursday, Nepal’s National Tourism Board confirmed that 517 of the total missing people in the country are foreign nationals.

Across the border in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, state media reports confirm three fatalities in Gyirong County, with 558 people listed as missing. China’s Central Television (CCTV) adds that 260 of the 558 missing in Gyirong County are foreign nationals. Separately, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that an additional nearly 100 Chinese citizens are currently unaccounted for on the Nepal side of the border.

The spread of missing foreign nationals spans more than 30 countries across every inhabited continent, highlighting the popularity of the region as a global tourism and religious destination. India accounts for the largest share of missing foreign nationals in Nepal, with 179 people unaccounted for — most of whom were part of pilgrimage groups traveling to the sacred Mount Kailash in Tibet, a site of deep spiritual significance to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Bon followers alike. Following India, the United States has 65 missing citizens, Ukraine has 53 (including 46 tourists who lost contact with Nepalese authorities), Malaysia has 51, Australia 35, the United Kingdom 33, Canada 25, and South Korea counts nine citizens missing, all of whom were working on a local hydropower plant construction project.

Smaller groups of missing foreign nationals include eight people each from Singapore, Germany, and Russia; six from South Africa and Latvia; five from Japan and New Zealand; four from France; three from Belgium and Spain; and two each from Italy, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Ireland, and the Netherlands. One missing citizen each has been confirmed from Belarus, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia, and Sweden, the Nepal Tourism Board confirmed.

A catastrophic flash flood disaster that swept through mountain villages along the Nepal-China border last Wednesday has left a staggering trail of death and destruction, with more than 160 people confirmed dead and nearly 800 still unaccounted for. The force of the churning mud and debris was so intense that seismologists initially mistook the geological disturbance for a major earthquake, a testament to the unprecedented power of the natural disaster that erased entire settled communities from the map.

Survivors of the catastrophe have shared harrowing, heart-wrenching accounts of watching their loved ones and entire livelihoods get swept away in minutes, with no time to escape or intervene. Kalpana Malla, a resident of Nepal’s Nuwakot district, described the moment when her parents, sister, and her sister’s young children were pulled into the roiling mudslides right in front of her eyes. “They could not escape the flood; there was no chance at all,” Malla told the BBC. “This flood took everything, but my son and I climbed the rooftop of a house and survived but couldn’t explain how.” Her 16-year-old son Sugam, who pulled his mother to safety when the floodwaters rose, recalled that he had lent his mobile phone to his sister to stay connected, and the device has since gone silent — leaving him certain she was also swept away.

Other survivors have lost not only family but everything they owned to the disaster. Local resident Goma Pandit explained that all of her cattle, including her valued buffaloes, were killed in the flood, and every bit of her stored crops and farmland was also washed away. “Nothing is left,” she said.

In the capital city of Kathmandu, dozens of anxious family members have gathered at TU Teaching Hospital, where injured survivors are being transported via helicopter from remote affected areas, waiting for any word of their missing loved ones. Ram Khumari Shrestha held up a photo of her husband, a driver who had traveled to the flood-hit Rasuwa district for work, saying he was in regular contact with her until 8 p.m. on the night of the flood, but his phone has been switched off ever since. Mani Shrestha Bishwa, who has been camping at the hospital since Wednesday night, is still waiting for news of four missing family members and friends, with his last contact with the group coming more than 24 hours before the flood hit.

Trekking guide Sonam Dorjee escaped the disaster by barely an hour, having left his home village of Rasiwa Syafru at 8 a.m. local time, shortly before the floodwaters slammed into the community. As he drove toward Kathmandu, he heard the roar of the flood hitting the valley, which he described as sounding identical to a major earthquake. “My house has collapsed… I have seen a photo,” he said. Dorjee’s sister, her husband, and multiple other relatives are currently missing, and he echoed calls for emergency support for hundreds of left homeless by the disaster. “Many survivors are now left without homes and they need emergency rescue and evacuation, as well as food, temporary accommodation and medical support,” he said, adding that he still holds out a sliver of hope that his sister will be found alive: “There is a 10% chance, we hope.”

By Thursday, rescue teams had begun the dangerous work of traversing thick, clinging mud and scattered debris to reach cut-off remote communities, while Nepalese government authorities worked to accelerate the delivery of emergency aid and relief supplies to the disaster zone.

Catastrophic flash floods have swept through regions along the Nepal-Tibet border, leaving a grim trail of destruction that has claimed the lives of at least 160 people. As emergency response teams race against time to reach trapped survivors stuck in thick mud and debris, significant logistical hurdles are slowing rescue operations. Many remote communities in the disaster-hit zone remain cut off from aid, damaged infrastructure and washed-out access routes have complicated efforts to deploy personnel and equipment to the hardest-hit areas. Local disaster management authorities have reported that dozens of people remain unaccounted for, buried under mudslides triggered by the sudden flash flooding. Emergency responders are working to clear blocked pathways and locate those still trapped, with international disaster response organizations monitoring the situation closely for potential deployment of additional support. The flooding, which struck suddenly, caught many local residents off guard, turning everyday communities into disaster zones overnight. Rescuers have managed to pull dozens of survivors out of deep mud, but the scale of the disaster continues to outpace the current response capacity in the remote border region.