Hope Still Held for Japanese Family A Week after Nepal Floods

Kathmandu/Beijing, Sept. 1 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese family of five remains missing after flash floods and mudslides struck the Nepal-China border last week, but a local tour company employee has not given up hope to find them safe.

While Wednesday will mark a week since the disaster, the employee who oversaw the family's tour said Monday that he cannot lose hope that all five are safe.

Nepal's tourism authorities on Tuesday released the five people's dates of birth. Two of them, in their 40s, are the parents of the other three, aged 10, 6 and 3.

Nepal's disaster management authorities said the same day that the death toll in Nepal has risen to 987, bringing the combined fatalities on both sides of the border to more than 1,000. In China, 16 have been confirmed dead. A total of over 4,400 people remain missing in the two countries.

The catastrophe devastated broad stretches downstream in Nepal. On the Chinese side, border checkpoints and other facilities were swept away and severely damaged. The disaster is believed to have been triggered by the collapse of an upstream glacier.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]