China Runs 24-Hour Hotline as Nepal Border Avalanche Toll Remains Unclear
A 24-hour English-language hotline set up after the August 26 China-Nepal border disaster has received nearly 600 calls from families of the missing.
China has set up a round-the-clock English-language helpline for relatives of people still unaccounted for after the flash flood and mudslide that tore through the China-Nepal border region on August 26, with the service logging close to 600 calls in roughly two weeks of operation.
The disaster, triggered by a glacial collapse on the Nepalese side of the frontier, struck the remote border zone on the morning of August 26. It caused heavy casualties and left thousands of people missing. On the Chinese side, the district of Gyirong in Xigaze was the worst affected.
As search and rescue operations move into their third week, the nature of the calls has begun to change. Kelsang Chudzong, who heads the Protocol and Information Division at the Foreign Affairs Office of the Xizang Autonomous Region, said the early enquiries from families of foreign nationals still listed as missing centred on how the rescue effort was progressing and on confirming details about their relatives and friends.
"As search and rescue work moves forward, they are more concerned about matters related to DNA sampling," she said.
Families have also been asking about the procedures for foreign relatives to travel into Xizang and about other follow-up arrangements, she added.
The hotline has been running since late August. Staff working alongside colleagues in Xigaze had handled nearly 600 calls as of Wednesday. In recent days, the volume of calls from families of people still listed as missing on the Chinese side has gradually declined, though the team continues to man the phones around the clock.
"We listen very patiently to every caller's needs and carefully record every piece of leading information," Kelsang said. "In the process, we do our utmost to provide emotional support and reassurance to these family members."
She said the team has put in place a "one person, one file" system to lay the groundwork for follow-up tasks, and that members will keep contributing what they can to the relief and rescue effort.