More from Nepal - from Leo Goulet and Fouad Kronfol

The search for the dead and missing continues, with the army taking a very active and effective lead-role. Their work includes searching the hydro tunnels that were blocked by debris. Difficult and dangerous work. 1400 or so bodies have been recovered, and 5100 or so, including hundreds of foreigners, are missing. In Nepal (reliable info. on dead & missing in TIbet is harder to come by). At this stage might as well list the "missing" as "bodies yet to be recovered", which would bring the death toll to around 6500.

The latest estimate is that reconstruction costs will total Rupees 723.3 billion (US Dollars 4.8 billion). To date, Rupees 13.2 billion (USD 88.2 million) have been contributed to the PM's Disaster Relief Fund, and regular contributions continue to be made from all over the place. I saw a notice yesterday from the New Hampshire Nepali Association saying they had raised over USD 100,000 for the Fund.

There was an article in today's paper about Nepali workers in the Gulf who are from the flood affected area who have lost family members and property, including farm land, which can never be recovered. They have scrimped and saved for years to help their families and have now lost everything. Very sad.

Lots of reports about hotel and tour cancellations. One hotel in Sauraha said that their room occupancy now is below 5%, at a time when the place would normally be bustling. As usual, people see reports of the flood on their screens and conclude that the whole country has been affected, and that another flood is just around the corner.

One more hardship added to the collection of hardships Nepal is having to deal with.