Nepal-Tibet Flood Rescue, Fed Chair Speech, Kennedy Center Renaming Hearing

**Steve Inskeep** (0:02)
Authorities in Nepal warn of a secondary flood after water swept away many buildings.

**A Martínez** (0:07)
Loved ones are waiting for news of more than a thousand people missing after water swept through valleys in Nepal and Tibet.

**Steve Inskeep** (0:13)
I'm Steve Inskeep with A Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. The head of the Federal Reserve gives a big speech at an annual Fed gathering in Wyoming. Last month, he promised to tackle inflation, but offered few details, so investors want to know what he will actually do.

**A Martínez** (0:31)
A federal judge heard arguments over putting President Trump's name back on the Kennedy Center. A court already ruled that renaming it takes an act of Congress, but the Kennedy Center board chaired by Trump wants it up in two weeks, or they might tear the building down. Stay with us, we've got news you need to start your day.

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**A Martínez** (1:57)
It's been two days since nearly 30-foot-high waves raced on a river between Tibet and Nepal, wiping away communities from miles downstream.

**Steve Inskeep** (2:06)
Police in Nepal say the death toll there has risen to 469 people. China has not updated its death toll of three, but both countries together say over 1,500 are reported missing. Last night, I was talking with an American whose parents are among those missing. She's gathered with family, and they have no news.

**A Martínez** (2:26)
NPR's Dia Hadid covers Nepal. She's on the line with us now, Dia, so it's been two days. What's the latest information about these floods?

**Dia Hadid** (2:34)
Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing. The waters receded from most places, leaving behind mud and debris. But Santosh Pandey from the aid group Oxfam says one of the worst affected areas, Rascoe, is still only accessible by helicopter. So that's how they're getting aid in.

**Santosh Pandey** (2:49)
So we are coordinating with the government, providing support basically on non-food items and hygiene keys.

**Dia Hadid** (2:57)
But because that area is largely inaccessible, it also means the death count is likely to rise further.
And now authorities are warning that there might be secondary floods because there's still an overflowing lake in the area where experts say the first glacier collapsed, blocking up a river valley and triggering those major floods. There's concern it might burst. David Fisher is head of Nepal's Red Cross delegation.

**David Fisher** (3:20)
We're worried, of course, for the population and for the safety of our own colleagues. We don't have a full view about what kind of intensity would come in a second flood.

**Dia Hadid** (3:29)
He says for now, in other devastated areas, aid is getting in.

**A Martínez** (3:33)
Yeah, it sounds like that area is still very dangerous. So what does that mean for the rescue efforts? Are more people likely to be found? Any hope of that?

**Dia Hadid** (3:41)
Nepalese authorities say they've now rescued more than 1,500 people. Some survivors recounted how they fled into forested hills. So there is hope for others. But the situation is so very uncertain. We don't even know yet if those rescued people were even included in the lists of the missing.

**A Martínez** (3:59)
Yeah, we mentioned how the State Department says 90 Americans are among the foreigners are missing. Any of them at all? Have any of them been found?

**Dia Hadid** (4:07)
Yeah, to be clear, the State Department says impacted, not missing. And it appears many of those Americans were Hindu pilgrims.
Like the in-laws of 28-year-old Ariadna Riley, her husband's parents are 64-year-old Neelam Kumari Sharma and 65-year-old Ramesh Sharma. She tells NPR, they retired and saved to make a pilgrimage to Circle Mount Kailash in Tibet. It's a mountain revered by Hindus.