A Tibetan advocacy group has accused Chinese authorities of understating the scale of last week’s deadly floods along the Nepal-Tibet border, saying hundreds of homes may have been destroyed and the number of people missing could be significantly higher than officially reported.

The International Campaign for Tibet said its sources believed the disaster had caused far greater damage on the Tibetan side of the border than has been publicly acknowledged. The group said at least 300 homes were reportedly destroyed in four villages — Sale, Serchung, Labi and Rizi — while many people remained unaccounted for.

Tencho Gyatso, president of the advocacy group, told the Guardian that the devastation visible in Nepal raised questions about what had happened on the Tibetan side. She said information gathered from sources on the ground suggested that the number of people affected could be “far higher” than figures released by Chinese authorities.

Chinese authorities have reported 16 confirmed deaths and 546 people missing, including 261 foreign citizens. However, the International Campaign for Tibet said its sources believed the number of casualties was considerably higher.

The floods followed the collapse of a glacier on August 26, triggering flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border and destroying villages in the mountainous region. On the Nepalese side, the death toll had surpassed 900, with more than 4,000 people reported missing. Tourists and pilgrims from several countries, including India, the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, were among those still unaccounted for.

Rights and advocacy groups said the amount of information available from the two sides of the border had been markedly different. Coverage in China has largely relied on official state media reports, while independent accounts about the extent of the destruction and the aftermath have been limited.

Independent verification of events in Tibet is particularly difficult because foreign journalists face significant restrictions. Tibetan residents can also face punishment for sharing information about the disaster with journalists or advocacy organisations outside China.

Gyatso said that officially released information offered only a limited picture of what was happening across the affected communities. Her organisation said several sources reported that survivors had been transferred to Gyirong, around 30 kilometres from the border crossing affected by the floods, where they were allegedly placed under strict management and faced restrictions on communication.

A report published on August 27 by Tibet Daily, a state-run newspaper, said two Tibetans had been detained for questioning after allegedly posting “rumours” claiming that more than 1,000 people had been swept away near the border.

Chinese social media also became a focus of discussion about the disaster. Posts questioning the official figures circulated online, although authorities warned against what they described as false or misleading information.

On Sunday, Tibetan public security officials said they had penalised at least 10 people for sharing what they called false disaster information or for disrupting online order. Officials did not provide further details about the penalties.

Some social media users disputed the official casualty figures. One user identified as Zhang questioned the reported death toll, while another user, Zhou, claimed an entire village had been destroyed and suggested the number of deaths could have been far higher.

Hu Xijin, a prominent Chinese commentator and former editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times, criticised what he described as attempts by a small number of people to create controversy through unsupported claims. However, one commenter responding to his post questioned why most updates about the disaster appeared to be coming from the Nepalese side of the border.

Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch said the Chinese government had a strong tendency to control information and present an image of an efficient response. She also said questions had been raised about whether development in valleys considered environmentally and geologically fragile had contributed to the disaster.

Human rights organisations have long criticised Beijing’s restrictions on movement, religion and information in Tibet. Tibetan groups living outside China have also raised concerns about large-scale development in the region because of its geological and environmental vulnerabilities.

Chinese authorities rejected allegations that information about the floods had been concealed. Foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that information about the floods and mudslides near the Nepal border had been released transparently and in a timely manner.

Guo also rejected allegations that China had censored disaster videos or understated the number of missing people, describing such claims as malicious attempts to discredit China. He further dismissed speculation that Chinese authorities had ignored scientific warnings related to hydropower construction.

The conflicting accounts mean that the full extent of the disaster on the Tibetan side remains difficult to independently establish. Further information and independent access to affected communities would be needed to determine the actual number of casualties and the scale of the destruction.

SOURCE: The Guardian, Danny Vincent, August 31, 2026.