Nepal flash floods: Chandigarh opens helplines to trace missing local residents

Devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border have claimed at least 177 lives and left over 1,500 people still missing, according to the latest live updates. The Union Territory Administration in Chandigarh has responded to the crisis by opening helplines to assist in tracing local residents who may have gone missing or are unaccounted for in the disaster-stricken regions.

The Chandigarh administration has urgently appealed to citizens to provide any information regarding Chandigarh residents who were traveling or staying in Nepal during the floods and whose whereabouts are currently unknown. The collected data will be compiled and shared with central authorities and diplomatic missions to expedite search and rescue efforts and keep affected families informed.

To help in the search and rescue operations, families and friends can contact the UT Administration through control room phone numbers 112 or 0172-2700025, email adc-chd@nic.in, or reach out to Nodal contact officer Mohan Singh, Office Superintendent of the Deputy Commissioner's Office. Authorities have stressed the importance of providing detailed information, including full names, contact numbers, travel itineraries, last known locations, and photographs, to aid rescue teams in identifying individuals on the ground.

The floods, which likely originated from a glacier collapse, have caused significant damage to infrastructure, power lines, and telecommunications networks across parts of Nepal. Consequently, families in India have been unable to reach relatives and travelers in the affected areas. The Chandigarh administration encourages residents to disseminate the helpline details widely so that anxious families can quickly connect with officials to seek information about their loved ones.