‘Everyone seems to have forgotten’: In Tibet, flood-hit families search for the missing and grapple with China’s silence | Nepal-Tibet flood disaster

Fan Hong last heard from her husband on the morning of the Nepal-Tibet disaster. More than a week later, the 31-year-old is desperately searching for information about Lin Bo, who was working on a Chinese highway project in Tibet. Struggling to get information from authorities, Fan turned to social media for help.

“My husband works on a project in Nepal, about 5 kilometres from the Gyirong border crossing. I want to know what the situation is, but I haven’t been able to reach him,” the 31-year-old from China’s Sichuan province wrote on Rednote.

Her post has gained more than 18,000 likes and nearly 4,600 comments. She is one of many in China with missing loved ones trying to piece together information they are finding online, as Tibetan advocate groups say information is being suppressed on that side of the border.

Lin began working on repairing the Syaphrubesi–Rasuwagadhi Highway – which links Nepal to Tibet, China, through the Gyirong border crossing – in 2024. He had been living on site and working on a 16km stretch of the road.

Fan says that rescue missions into the construction site have stalled. She says relatives of survivors are asking the Chinese authorities for permission to send up their own drones or helicopters to look for the missing.

“I feel more disheartened with each passing day. Feel colder and colder inside,” she told the Guardian. “I don’t even have any tears left.”

It is just over week since the collapse of a glacier triggered devastating floods along the Nepal-Tibet border, destroying entire villages and killing more than 1,200 people. On Wednesday, 4,216 remained missing, according to Nepal officials. Chinese authorities say 541 remain unaccounted for on the Tibetan side, including 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries.

While in China, the official narrative heavily focuses on rescue efforts, online posts across Chinese social media show an emotional outpouring of grief and mourning. On Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, photographs of missing customs officers are shared under the hashtag “Salute to heroes guarding the nation’s gateway”.

In China, families with missing loved ones say they are relying on information from Nepal, as well as foreign embassies and social media. Tibetan advocate groups say information on the Tibetan side of the border remains heavily restricted.

On 30 August, Tibetan police reported that 10 people had been punished for spreading what authorities called “false information” about the scale of the disaster online.

“This crackdown is obstructing not just public reporting of the disaster and relief efforts but the basic work of establishing whether communities are alive and receiving the support that they need,” said Tencho Gyatso, president of the US-based Tibetan advocacy group the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT)

“Sources are now afraid to speak to outside groups including ICT. One source told ICT it was “extremely unsafe” to speak. Another asked us not to make further contact given the potential ramifications,” she said.

Fan says she is mainly relying on information from Nepal.

“Everyone seems to have forgotten about the workers on the Syaphrubesi–Rasuwagadhi Highway project … All the news coverage is about the hydropower station [in Nepal].

Families of foreign tourists who went missing in Tibet are also desperately searching for information,

British nationals Sridhar Avvari, 43, his wife Deepti, 41, and their 14-year-old son Abhinav went missing near the immigration area at Gyirong on 26 August, close to the Nepal-Tibet border. The family lives in India and relatives believe they over on to the Tibetan side.

In a call to the family days earlier, Deepti Avvari told them that there would be no signal but would talk when she returned to an area with network activity. After the flash flood, calls to Deepti’s phone stopped connecting.

“There was no signal, so we can’t talk … After coming down, I will call you again,” Deepti told Priyanka Rapaka, her sister in law.

They are desperately waiting for updates.

“We didn’t get any information from China … We are checking online only who are rescued and… how many are dead,” Rapaka said.

Chinese authorities say they are now able to reach the main disaster zone by road. According to state media they are describing the region as an active search and rescue operation and are searching for hundreds of missing people.

Naresh Goyal is anxiously waiting for news about his sister, Neetu Goyal Tiwari, a 51-year-old missing British national who flew from India to Kathmandu on 14 August to join an Isha Foundation pilgrimage.

“The last message received is that they have reached Gyirong immigration office. “They said they are going to check out.” He says he found his sister’s name on a list of missing people circulating on social media, but said he is unsure where the list originated. Getting information out of the Chinese authorities has been difficult.

“Whenever we ask the China government, they are telling us that they will update us through the embassy of the UK,” he says.

“It is very painful here Now we have spent at least seven days and every minute we are waiting,” Goyal says.