00:00The Tibbet disaster zone, we'll get your ground report from there.
00:03The road clearance work is underway.
00:06CGTN's Gong Ming is now joining us with the latest.
00:11Gong Ming, can you show us the terrain behind you
00:14where the road clearance operation is currently underway in the disaster hit Tibbet?
00:22Yeah, sure.
00:23Now I'm actually at the National Highway G216 repair site.
00:30And this is about like 1.6 kilometers away from the original Jerome port,
00:37which is severely damaged in this devastating mudslide.
00:41And you can see behind me that about 50 meters.
00:46And the engineering rescue team right now is trying to,
00:53because first you can see all these parts have been submerged up to 5 meters
00:59after the mudslide.
01:01And now, so the engineering team was trying to do
01:04is to transfer the big rocks from the other country
01:08and to bring all these rocks come here
01:13and to try to pave the new roads.
01:17And you can imagine, because you can see the surrounding,
01:20the water level here is very fast.
01:23It's more than like 5 meters per second.
01:27That's created a big, huge difficulty to the working there.
01:31And also, you can see the terrain here.
01:34It's very narrow.
01:36It's a narrow valley, riverbed.
01:39And in that part, also the road,
01:43the road you can see, all the traps on that.
01:46It's all that they use, all these rocks to make protection
01:55to prevent the water, to stop the water, go inside.
01:59And then in order for them to fill up the things
02:05and then they can make this a new road.
02:07And Gong Ming, what are the obstacles and the challenges
02:10that are being faced in clearing these final few kilometers over here?
02:16Yeah, first, it's like...
02:19So first, you can see from the terrain,
02:22there is a curve.
02:23And actually, there are two curves in France.
02:26And today, they have three very important parts.
02:30That's...
02:31First, they have to overcome this speedy water level
02:35and also to overcome the weather
02:37because the weather is very changeable.
02:39It can rain constantly.
02:42And also, they need all these rocks
02:47to transfer from far away place.
02:49So that is the biggest obstacle.
02:53And also, at the same time,
02:56we have to be monitoring all the situation in this place
02:59because there are some barrier leaks
03:03that have been formed in the upstream.
03:07So that can force a risk at any time.
03:11So they have to use all these AI monitoring equipments
03:14to monitor the situation.
03:17Yeah, that's what we so far got here.
03:20And also, go inside, though.
03:23Okay, wait, wait, wait.
03:24There's one more important thing.
03:26Actually, further down,
03:27there are two waterfalls inside.
03:30So the rescue team has to avoid all these risks
03:35and trying to pave the new way.
03:39Right.
03:39Longming, do stay with us.
03:40So India today is exclusively getting you these visuals,
03:43this report from near the Gairong port.
03:47This is the national highway which is being cleared.
03:49And the clearance operation is still underway.
03:52There are a lot of hurdles which are being faced
03:54in the last few kilometers.
03:56Gongming is getting us all the details.
03:57Gongming, also tell us,
03:59is there an estimated timeline
04:01in which this clearance operation will be over
04:04and then the highway will be operational?
04:08Yeah, it's actually from the,
04:10when we just came from information from the China NMPC,
04:13so far they have advanced 553 meters.
04:17And now there are still 1.15 meters left.
04:22But among this 1.50 meters,
04:26about around like eight meters
04:29are all submerged under the water.
04:32And also that is the hardest part to pave the new way.
04:36So they are working overnight, already two days.
04:40And today they're also going to work overnight
04:42to try to click on the club
04:45and try racing against the puns,
04:48trying to fill up all the roads.
04:51And the quickest time,
04:54they predict maybe tomorrow morning.
04:56Yeah, so we also hope that,
04:58looking forward,
04:59that they can pave the way
05:01and make it to the port.
05:03Then they can begin to have
05:05the four-scale rescue operations.
05:08Right, so tomorrow morning is the deadline
05:11till when we can expect...
05:13That is the predictable time.
05:16All right, that is the estimated timeline
05:19when this clearance operation will be over
05:23and the road will be operational once again.
05:25Gongmin, can you also tell us about the machinery,
05:27the kind of equipments
05:28which are being used in this operation?
05:31Okay, first, in the side,
05:33you can see all these traps now
05:36just going, passing, like, constantly
05:39to transfer all these big rocks
05:41that they get from the other rivers.
05:45So you can see here, community.
05:47And then just go deep further.
05:49Just follow me.
05:51Just go deep further.
05:52Because we actually cannot go inside further.
05:55Because inside is very dangerous.
05:58All the road is not stable right now.
06:01So inside, they use the professional,
06:06the mechanical stuff first
06:09to get some of the mud from the river
06:12to pave the way.
06:15And then they use the big rocks
06:17to make this road bed protection
06:19to prevent the water to come in,
06:22to wash away all the mud,
06:24all the sand that they already put there.
06:26And also, from here, I cannot see,
06:29but they also use some of the AI monitoring equipment
06:33inside to monitor the situation
06:37in the mountain, in the upstream.
06:39Yeah, that's what they, so far, they use.
06:44And Gongming, what is the death toll in China?
06:46Because we know about the death toll in Nepal,
06:49about how many people are missing,
06:51but not much is known about
06:52what's happening in China.
06:53What is the death toll
06:54and how many people are still missing?
06:57Yeah, actually, from yesterday's,
06:59the latest press conference,
07:02the death toll has already rising to 16,
07:05with the 546 persons still missing.
07:10That's the latest death toll.
07:14But actually,
07:17after the road,
07:19these days,
07:20they're also sending some personnel,
07:23rescue personnel,
07:23from the air,
07:25into the core site,
07:26to do more rescue.
07:29So, we're not sure if the death toll
07:32has a rise in it yet,
07:33but we are just waiting for the latest information.
07:37All right.
07:38Gongming, do stay with us.
07:40We're also showing our viewers
07:41the visuals of what exactly unfolded
07:43in Tibet on 26th of August.
07:46This is how deadly it was.
07:48You can see the visuals itself
07:51show how the deadly,
07:53the flash floods were,
07:54the scale of the devastation,
07:55the destruction,
07:56and the clearance work,
07:58for that matter,
07:59is still underway.
07:59It's been five days.
08:00It's a race against time
08:02to rescue the ones who are trapped,
08:05the ones who are missing.
08:06But so far,
08:07the roads have not been able to be cleared.
08:10There are a lot of other challenges as well,
08:13including the weather
08:14and including the weather conditions
08:17because there's continuous rainfall also,
08:18as Gongming was mentioning.
08:20Gongming,
08:20how is the weather over there?
08:22Is rainfall also posing as a major challenge
08:25for the rescue teams?
08:29It's one of the unpredictable items here.
08:32So, just maybe half an hour ago,
08:35there are still some small rain
08:37for just coming down.
08:39And also,
08:39we get what we know from the team
08:41that yesterday night,
08:44it's also raining constantly.
08:46So,
08:47and if it's raining in this,
08:49actually deep valley site,
08:51the fog,
08:52the fogs,
08:53and also the humidity
08:54will create a lot,
08:56will cut the visibility in front line.
08:59So,
08:59that is one of the unpredictable risks
09:05to prevent the street
09:07of the rescue operation.
09:11Right.
09:12And Gongming,
09:14tell us more about
09:15what you are observing over there.
09:17How is this rescue operation going?
09:19If you can also speak
09:20to some of the workers
09:21who are there
09:23and if they could also tell you
09:25about their experience.
09:28The thing is,
09:29right now,
09:30all the experts,
09:32they are all inside
09:33just trying to,
09:34trying to value
09:37the situation there.
09:38And all the,
09:39so,
09:40that's why,
09:41so far,
09:41we cannot talk to
09:42any people
09:43because they are still
09:45working very busy
09:46outside.
09:47So,
09:48maybe later,
09:49later we will try
09:50to talk to some of the experts
09:52and some of the engineering workers.
09:54Right.
09:55Gongming,
09:55one final question.
09:56You know,
09:57there are also allegations
09:58and reports
09:59that this is,
10:00this flash flood happened
10:02because of the construction
10:06that is underway
10:07by the Chinese side
10:09and that is what led
10:10to this natural disaster.
10:13Can you repeat
10:14the question again?
10:15So,
10:17there are reports
10:18and allegations
10:18that it is the Chinese
10:19construction
10:20that led to these
10:21flash floods
10:22in Nepal and Tibet.
10:26Chinese,
10:27you mean
10:28construction
10:30in the Himalayan region.
10:33No,
10:34there's the information
10:34we haven't got
10:35this.
10:37Because so far,
10:38at the press conference,
10:39that's,
10:40our,
10:41the experts
10:42already confirmed
10:43that's the,
10:44the cost
10:44for this
10:45mudslide
10:45is because
10:46of the glacial
10:48broke
10:48in the high mountain
10:50around like
10:515,000 meters
10:52on the top
10:53of the snow mountain.
10:56And then,
10:56that caused
10:57the mudslide
10:57to crush
10:58over the valley
11:00because,
11:01so that is,
11:02so far,
11:03we got the main reason
11:04to cross
11:05this flood.
11:06All right.
11:07Gongming,
11:07thank you for
11:08getting us
11:09all those details
11:10right from the ground.
11:11India today
11:12is exclusively
11:13getting you
11:14this report
11:14and these visuals
11:15right from China
11:17where the road
11:18clearance operation
11:19is still underway.
11:20The estimated timeline
11:21is till tomorrow
11:23morning.
11:23Tomorrow morning
11:24is when the road
11:25is expected
11:26to be cleared
11:27fully.
11:28The last few
11:28kilometers
11:29are only left,
11:31but that is where
11:32the real challenge
11:33lies.
11:33In fact,
11:33the weather
11:34is also posing
11:35as a major challenge
11:36because there's
11:37continuous rainfall.
11:38In fact,
11:38the water level
11:39is also rising.
11:41So,
11:41these are some
11:42of the obstacles
11:42in the road
11:44clearing operation.
11:45But what we're
11:45also learning
11:46and the information
11:47that is not
11:49much available
11:50is that 546 people
11:52are still missing
11:53in China.
11:54This is the figure
11:55coming from China
11:56whereas hundreds
11:57have also died.
12:00This is what
12:00we are learning.
