Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority reported 987 deaths in Nepal on Tuesday as rescue teams continued searching devastated communities on the seventh day after catastrophic floods triggered by a glacial collapse along the China-Nepal border, while Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths in Tibet, taking the combined death toll to 1,003.

The scale of the disaster continued to emerge as rescuers worked through thick mud, collapsed buildings and debris scattered across valleys and river systems.

Also read: Nepal begins grim burials as flood toll hits 752

Nepal reported 3,916 people missing, while Chinese state media put the number missing in Tibet at 546. Together, 4,462 people remain unaccounted for across the two sides of the border.

The disaster struck on August 26 after what authorities and reports described as a glacial collapse in the Himalayas unleashed a powerful surge of water, ice, rock and mud into downstream areas.

The resulting floods swept through settlements, destroyed roads and bridges and severely damaged hydropower infrastructure, leaving some remote communities cut off from the rest of the country.

In Nepal, the latest figures showed that 927 bodies had been formally sealed, with 51 already handed over to relatives after identification.

A further 726 remained unidentified, underlining the difficulty of establishing the full human cost of the disaster.

The worst-affected areas include Chitwan, where 321 bodies have been recovered, followed by Nawalparasi East with 216 and Nawalparasi West with 170.

Nuwakot, Gorkha, Dhading, Tanahun and Rasuwa have also recorded significant numbers of casualties.

At least 279 people have been injured in Nepal, according to the disaster authority, while more than 11,000 people have been rescued from flood-affected areas.

About 22,000 security personnel have been mobilised for search and rescue operations, with at least 16 helicopters deployed to reach isolated locations.

The search has increasingly focused on hydropower facilities, where hundreds of workers are feared trapped or missing after projects in the mountainous region were overwhelmed by mud and debris.

Nepalese authorities have estimated that close to 1,000 workers were trapped at several hydropower projects.

Rescuers have so far reached hundreds of them, but dangerous conditions inside blocked tunnels continue to complicate the operation.

The disaster has also taken an international dimension.

Nepal’s missing list includes 583 foreign nationals from more than 30 countries. Indians account for a particularly large proportion, with 275 Indian citizens and another 128 people of Indian origin reported missing, according to Indian authorities.

The missing also include 85 US citizens, 62 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 42 Australians and 33 Britons, according to information compiled from authorities, embassies and Nepal’s tourism authorities.

In Tibet, Chinese authorities have reported 16 deaths and 546 missing people. The missing include 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries.

The international dimension has added urgency to the search, particularly around the border region, where access remains difficult.

In neighbouring India, authorities in Uttar Pradesh have recovered 17 bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal.

The bodies are believed to be connected to the disaster, but they have not been included in Nepal’s official death toll because identification is still under way.

Nepal’s Prime Minister, Balendra Shah, has described the disaster as an extraordinary event and linked the growing risks in the Himalayan region to climate change.

“The region must therefore remain vigilant,” Shah said, arguing that Nepal should raise the issue of climate-related disasters more forcefully before the international community.

China’s state broadcaster has also attributed the flooding to glacier instability associated with the long-term effects of global warming.

The precise chain of geological events behind the disaster remains subject to assessment, but scientists have repeatedly warned that a warming Himalayan environment can increase the risks associated with unstable glaciers and glacial lakes.

The immediate priority, however, remains survival and recovery.

Nepalese rescuers have been building temporary bridges and reopening damaged roads to reach isolated settlements.

Roads into Nuwakot, one of the hardest-hit districts, have been restored in some areas, allowing relief supplies and rescue teams to move further into the affected region.

The government has also established temporary shelters for thousands of displaced people as families begin the painful task of locating relatives and assessing what remains of their homes and livelihoods.

For many families, the disappearance of loved ones has created a second crisis alongside the physical destruction.

Photographs and lists of missing people have appeared at hospitals and other locations as relatives wait for information, while recovery teams continue to retrieve bodies from rivers and debris far from the areas where the flooding began.

The disaster has also exposed the vulnerability of Nepal’s expanding hydropower sector.

At least 12 hydropower projects were damaged, with hundreds of people associated with the facilities listed as missing in earlier assessments.

The economic consequences could be significant for a country that has invested heavily in hydropower as both a domestic energy source and an export opportunity.

The catastrophe has also drawn assistance from Nepal’s neighbours, India and China, as well as international partners. Prime Minister Shah said more than $42 million in aid had been pledged or received, with further support expected.

But rescue operations remain dangerous.

Mud, unstable terrain, damaged infrastructure and the possibility of further landslides continue to threaten teams working in remote valleys.

In some areas, heavy machinery has had to dig through enormous deposits of mud and rock to reach people believed to be trapped underground.

The scale of the missing-persons list means that the final death toll could rise substantially as search teams reach areas that remain inaccessible.

For now, the figures tell only part of the story. More than 1,000 people are confirmed dead, thousands remain missing, communities have been devastated and an already difficult rescue operation is unfolding across some of the world’s most challenging terrain.

As the seventh day of the search begins, Nepal faces the difficult task of balancing the desperate search for survivors with the recovery and identification of the dead.

Also read: Nepal begins grim burials as flood toll hits 752

For families still waiting for news, the operation remains a race against time and a fragile hope that someone lost beneath the wreckage may yet be found alive.