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Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle told Reuters that Nepal may need between four and five billion dollars to rebuild after the devastating floods, a sum equal to nearly a tenth of the national economy. “The initial estimate is between $4-$5 billion. Just an estimate,” Wagle said. “We will require much less than what we needed for the 2015 earthquake. Loss and damage is being assessed.” The torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris swept through Himalayan river systems, damaging power projects that account for more than 12 percent of national generating capacity according to a Reuters assessment.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority placed losses for property, housing and infrastructure at 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees, equivalent to 2.56 billion dollars, its chief Dharma Raj Upreti told Reuters on September 4. Upreti said the cost for early recovery measures including roads, temporary shelters, drinking water and power restoration over the first four months would reach around 52.6 million dollars. The authority anticipates that around 20,000 houses will need to be rebuilt in safer locations, with at least 7,500 homes completely destroyed.
Government figures cited by Reuters put the death toll in Nepal at more than 1,252 with over 4,200 people still missing following the August 26 disaster. At least seven people died in China’s Tibet region with hundreds more unaccounted for there. The United Nations Development Programme estimated the floods created 2.2 million tons of debris across affected districts such as Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading.
Nepal’s economy, which relies heavily on remittances, tourism and hydropower, stands to suffer a major blow from the destruction of hydropower installations and transport links, Wagle told Reuters. The reconstruction costs remain well below those of the 2015 magnitude-7.8 earthquake, which killed nearly 9,000 people, destroyed more than half a million homes and generated losses estimated at around a third of the economy at the time. A detailed assessment of losses and damage is ongoing to refine the overall funding requirement.
India and China have dispatched tunnel rescue experts, forensic teams and relief supplies while the World Bank has indicated potential emergency assistance of up to 163 million dollars, Reuters reported. The United States pledged 500,000 dollars, the European Union offered further support and the United Kingdom committed 6.79 million dollars along with emergency responders. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal appealed for additional international technical help and financing, underscoring that Nepal bears a disproportionate burden from the climate crisis despite its low greenhouse gas emissions, a point also highlighted in a BBC report on the floods.
Rescue operations continue with heavy machinery, helicopters and drones deployed to locate survivors including workers trapped in hydropower tunnels, according to Reuters updates from early September. Authorities have recovered bodies in varying states of decomposition, complicating identification efforts that now involve DNA testing with foreign assistance. Nepal, one of the most climate-vulnerable nations, has formally requested support from the United Nations loss and damage fund as it begins the long process of recovery and reconstruction.
