Trending 
Nepal estimates that rebuilding after last month’s deadly floods, triggered by a glacial collapse, will cost about $4.78 billion, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
The disaster began on August 26 near the China-Nepal border, sending a tsunami-like surge of water, mud and debris across affected areas. More than 1,400 people were killed, while thousands remained missing.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lok Bahadur Chhetri said the government estimated it would need about $57.67 million for immediate reconstruction and recovery over the next six months.
The remaining $4.71 billion, he said, would be required for longer-term reconstruction.
“The total estimated requirement for reconstruction is approximately $4.78 billion,” Nepali foreign ministry spokesman Lok Bahadur Chhetri told reporters.
“Of this, approximately $57.67 million is estimated to be required for short-term reconstruction and recovery over the next six months, while approximately $4.71 billion is required for longer-term reconstruction,” he said.
Chhetri added that the government was conducting a comprehensive post-disaster needs assessment to determine the full scale of the damage and establish the resources required for recovery, rebuilding and reconstruction.
Nepal’s leaders have called for sustained international support as the Himalayan country responds to the effects of a rapidly changing mountain environment.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said Nepal needed to draw greater international attention to disasters the country had experienced as a result of climate change.
Shah is expected to make his first foreign trip as prime minister this month to address the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to raise the issue.
Nepal, a largely rural country of about 30 million people, contributes only a fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions compared with industrialised nations.
The exact cause of the glacial collapse remains unclear, but climate change is driving glacier melt worldwide and increasing the risk of related disasters.
Scientists have warned that glaciers across the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountain range, are melting faster as global temperatures rise.
A preliminary UN assessment estimated that flood damage to buildings alone stood at $158 million. It warned that the overall losses would be significantly higher once damage to roads, bridges and agricultural land, as well as humanitarian costs, were included.
Nepal’s disaster agency said rescuers had recovered 1,385 bodies as of Friday, while about 5,130 people remained missing. In neighbouring China, state media reported 43 deaths and 519 people missing.
The combined death toll in the two countries stood at 1,428, with more than 5,649 people still missing, including about 800 foreigners, among them tourists and pilgrims.
