Along the banks of the Bhote Kosi river in Batrawati, a town in Nepal’s Rasuwa district near the border with Tibet, the aftermath of devastating floods has left thousands feared dead. The floods, caused by a sudden glacial outburst on Wednesday, swept through the area with such force that entire villages were destroyed, burying homes and infrastructure beneath mud and debris.

Batrawati, historically significant as the site where the 1847 Nepal-Tibet treaty was signed, now lies in ruins. Survivors sift through the remnants of their belongings amid the wreckage, struggling to come to terms with the scale of the disaster. One resident, Dil Bahadur Shrestha, mourned the loss of his wife, who remains trapped beneath the debris of their collapsed home. He said efforts to recover her have been hampered by a lack of assistance.

Local officials and residents have not yet provided official casualty figures, but estimates suggest a catastrophic death toll. Lal Bahadur Acharya, surveying the destruction from an elevated vantage point, estimated that as many as 20,000 people may have perished across the region. Acharya pointed to a nearly obliterated school where he said most of the children from the township lost their lives, attributing the devastation to both the initial floodwaters and the subsequent landslides.

The headmaster of Nil Kantha Secondary School reported that approximately 200 secondary pupils and 150 primary students were missing. He recalled the morning of the disaster, noting that while school was scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m., some 250 students were already on site by 9:20 a.m., with many others on their way when warnings of the incoming flood were received. At the time, only two staff members were present. Details of the evacuation efforts remain limited as the community grapples with the scale of the tragedy.

Residents and observers alike expressed a sense of despair given the magnitude of the loss and the region’s history of hardship, including past conflicts, the 2015 earthquake, the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing political unrest. The disaster has plunged the local population into uncertainty, with many voicing a sense of helplessness in the face of such overwhelming destruction.

Rescue and recovery operations are ongoing, although they have been complicated by the remote location and difficult terrain. The scale of damage to infrastructure and communication networks has further impeded relief efforts, leaving many communities isolated without access to essential services. Authorities have called for urgent international assistance to respond to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Nepal’s northern districts.