JOEL ROSE, HOST:
Rescue teams in both Nepal and China are racing against the clock to find survivors after deadly floods along the border Wednesday. At least 600 are dead and nearly 3,000 are missing, including dozens of Americans, according to authorities in both countries. The flood happened after a massive chunk of ice apparently separated from a glacier, sending waves of mud, ice and water gushing down the Himalayas. We begin our coverage with NPR's Jennifer Pak in Beijing.
JENNIFER PAK, BYLINE: Most of the roads and bridges to the worst-hit area, the Gyirong Rasuwa border checkpoint, have been cut off to rescuers. Though a Chinese team has gotten close on foot by trekking overnight, says Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reporter Zhang Congjing (ph), who accompanied them and filed this video report.
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ZHANG CONGJING: (Non-English language spoken).
PAK: "The cliff I'm standing on is almost a 90-degree drop," she says, pointing down. "And there are big boulders all around, so it's still relatively risky from here onwards."
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ZHANG: (Non-English language spoken).
PAK: She's breathing heavily, partly from the region's high altitude that has also slowed their progress. The Chinese government heavily restricts foreign journalists from accessing Tibet, so we're reliant on China's state media for information. Another CCTV crew accompanying a separate team had made it to the border checkpoint already, only to find vast stretches of mud.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Ah, ah.
PAK: Suddenly, they spot a car and tree branches poking out.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Speaking Chinese).
PAK: "Is anyone there?" the rescuers call out. They must work fast, says a team leader, Jian Wanqiang, from the Tibet Corps of the People's Armed Police Force.
JIAN WANQIANG: (Non-English language spoken).
PAK: "Right now, we face risks of further floods, landslides and avalanches," he says. The rescue efforts are different in Tibet and neighboring Nepal, says Dai Zili with Beijing's International Association for Geohazard Mitigation, speaking on CCTV.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DAI ZILI: (Non-English language spoken).
PAK: On Nepal's side, he says, the landscape has more flat valleys that make rescue routes easier. But in Tibet, high mountain canyons make it harder for rescue crews and supplies to enter.
At a Kathmandu teaching hospital, NPR's Mamita Bhandari saw people checking lists of the missing. A few seem slightly dazed. But the worst part now may be the wait. Jennifer Pak, NPR News, Beijing. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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