Number of missing Australians in Nepal rises, as China links disaster to climate change

Australians have raised millions of dollars to assist survivors of the Nepal disaster, with many forced into temporary shelters amid mud and chaos.

Authorities said the death toll rose to nearly 800 on Sunday, with more than 3,000 people missing on both sides of the Nepal-China border after a torrent of ice, rock, mud and debris swept through mountain valleys and rivers on Wednesday, causing widespread devastation.

The federal government has announced a further $3 million in humanitarian support for Nepal, including supplies transported by the Australian Defence Force. It brings Australia's total assistance to $8 million.

The survivors remain in desperate need of basic amenities like clean drinking water and medical supplies.

Among them, Rabindra Hamal told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency he and his colleagues working at a dam site were told to flee just minutes before the flood hit their area on Wednesday.

They made their escape by car, but as they later tried to reach higher ground by foot, two of the group were swept away.

"It was completely terrifying," he said. "We couldn't believe it."

The group continued to scramble to safety but were forced to wait until the following day to be rescued.

They were flown by helicopter to a nearby army barracks and then evacuated to Kathmandu.

Hamal said that of the several thousand people working on the hydro project, about 500 were still missing.

As of Sunday evening, the number of missing Australians rose to 43, with the federal government continuing to do everything possible to confirm their welfare.

A public candlelight vigil will be held at Melbourne's Federation Square on Monday evening, in memory of those lost in the disaster.

A joint call for aid from the Emergency Action Alliance (EAA), made up of 15 prominent charities, has raised more than $3.5 million, including $2 million in contributions from the federal government.

The funding is going towards providing much-needed emergency shelter, food, safe drinking water, healthcare, hygiene and sanitation services, and supporting longer-term recovery assistance.

Save the Children is one of the organisations participating in the alliance, with the group's global media manager Amy Lefevre, visiting the affected Nuwakot district on Saturday.

Speaking from Kathmandu, Lefevre said the scale of the disaster was staggering.

"It's just mud everywhere, there's also a lot of confusion and chaos," she told AAP.

"It's just incredibly sad when you look around and you see someone's shoes stuck in the mud, or people's belongings strewn everywhere.

"It's very much still a rescue operation but of course, today is day five, and I think the chance of finding people alive is slowly dimming."

For those who did survive, many families have been ripped apart, with Save the Children managing to reunite 69 children with their loved ones since Friday.

"We spoke to quite a few children who were either on their own or had been separated," Lefevre said.

"So one of the most urgent concerns that we're seeing is the need to reunite families."

Climate change link

The Red Cross has estimated that more than 90,000 people are likely to have been affected by the disaster, which China has linked to climate change.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Nepalese counterpart during a Saturday telephone call that the mudslide was their "most severe cross-border disaster" in recent years and that rescue operations had risen to an unprecedented level of difficulty and complexity, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The flood was "caused by glacier instability under the long-term effects of global warming", CCTV reported, saying it was a "new and prominent feature of cryosphere disasters" on the Tibetan plateau.

The mudslide from the Nepalese side took six to seven minutes to reach the Gyirong border crossing, CCTV said, citing the findings of Chinese scientists. Dramatic surveillance footage shared worldwide showed torrents of water and debris engulfing buildings while people tried to flee.

Nepal's disaster authority said 781 people had died, with 2,502 missing. On the Chinese side, authorities said 16 people were killed in Gyirong County and 546 were missing.

China said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were unaccounted for in Tibet, near a key border crossing with Nepal.

The scale of the disaster has complicated rescue efforts across the rugged Himalayan terrain.

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