With Nepal’s death toll rising to 538 while China has officially reported only five deaths
China’s tight control over information from Tibet is hampering efforts to assess the full scale of devastation and coordinate understanding of the rescue operation after catastrophic flash floods struck villages along the Nepal-China border, with Nepal’s death toll rising to over 700 while China has officially reported only five deaths. In one broadcast from a relief centre in Tibet, a journalist reported from the site without speaking to any of the people seated behind them.
On Friday, China’s President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting directing rescue operations and called on authorities to “make every effort to search for missing people from China and abroad”. He also sent Premier Li Qiang to the affected region. China has also deployed hundreds of emergency personnel, including members of the People’s Liberation Army, to the affected areas. Its emergency services are considerably better resourced than those in Nepal and have specialised capabilities suited to the treacherous mountainous terrain. Unlike in Nepal, where journalists have travelled towards the disaster zone and spoken directly to survivors, rescue workers and villagers, independent reporting from Tibet is severely restricted. Chinese state media have broadcast reports from the affected region and sent journalists to cover the rescue operation. But the coverage has largely focused on relief efforts rather than the scale of destruction.
Because rescue operations on the Chinese side could provide vital information about missing people and conditions near the border, the restrictions are particularly consequential. Nepalese and Chinese communities in the region are connected by the same fragile Himalayan landscape, meaning developments on one side can directly affect the other. China’s superior emergency resources could potentially make its response an important part of the wider rescue effort. But the secrecy surrounding its operations has made it difficult for outsiders to determine what is being done, how many people remain missing and how extensive the destruction really is.