Emergency workers used zip lines and rafts in Nepal on Monday to search for people buried under mud after more than 170 people were killed as floods and landslides ravaged the country at the weekend.
Large parts of the Himalayan nation were inundated for days as torrential rain on Friday caused flash floods and landslides. The capital Kathmandu was hit hardest by flooding and remained cut off on Sunday as three motorways were blocked by landslides, while hundreds of homes and power lines were buried in mud across several neighbouring districts.
Nepal’s government on Sunday said at least 172 people were killed, 42 were missing and more than 100 were injured. It added that more than 4,000 people had been rescued, with helicopters, motorboats and rafts used to bring those stranded to safety on Monday as the weather began to improve.
Nepal Armed Police Forces used zip lines to traverse a flooded river in Lalitpur, south of Kathmandu. In other neighbourhoods, rescuers used rafts in flooded areas and cleared mud with their bare hands and shovels. Bulldozers were being used to clear nearly two dozen sections of major motorways leading into Kathmandu that had been blocked by debris.
“All security agencies have been mobilised for search and rescue operations and will continue high priority,” Nepalese authorities said on Sunday. The government also announced the closure of schools and colleges across the country for the next three days.
Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is worsening them.
Entire neighbourhoods in Kathmandu were inundated after the heaviest rains in more than two decades, with the capital temporarily cut off from the rest of Nepal after landslides blocked motorways.
At least 35 people were buried alive when a landslide engulfed vehicles on a motorway south of Kathmandu, Nepal Police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP.
"Our focus is on search and rescue, including people who have been stranded on highways," Home Ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari told AFP.
Nepal's weather bureau said preliminary data from stations in 14 districts measured record-breaking rain in the 24 hours to Saturday morning.
A monitoring station at the Kathmandu airport recorded about 240mm of rain, the highest figure since 2002.
The summer monsoon from July to September brings South Asia 70 to 80 per cent of its annual rain and is vital for agriculture and food production in a region home to about two billion people.
But monsoon rains also bring widespread death and destruction in the form of floods and landslides.
Experts say climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity. More than 300 people have died in Nepal in rain-related disasters this year.
“I’ve never before seen flooding on this scale in Kathmandu,” said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, the environmental risks expert at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Lalitpur, in Nepal.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
FIGHT%20CARD
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War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
MATCH INFO
RB Leipzig 2 (Klostermann 24', Schick 68')
Hertha Berlin 2 (Grujic 9', Piatek 82' pen)
Man of the match Matheus Cunha (Hertha Berlin
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The%20specs
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Company Profile
Company name: Yeepeey
Started: Soft launch in November, 2020
Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani
Based: Dubai
Industry: E-grocery
Initial investment: $150,000
Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
