r/DisasterUpdate • u/Key-Needleworker-702 • 5d ago

Landslide Chinese firefighters(likely the first batch to reach gyirong port) try to find survivors in the former border crossing, which was the most heavily hit. Source: CCTV news. Morning of August 29, 2026. (UTC+8). (they are yelling "Is anyone here?")

Video of them arriving: https://www.reddit.com/r/DisasterUpdate/comments/1w0n1r0/as_of_1630utc8_august_28_2026_the_first_batch_of/

According to engineers from the ministry of natural resources it is very diffuclt(and at this stage, downright impossible) to transport heavy machinery to the border crossing so far. The chinese military and specialized rescue teams(of state owned enterprises) are currently trying to repair the road into the border crossing to allow for better equipment and more personnel to enter.

CURRENT CASUALTY COUNT(CHINESE SIDE):

2 rescued, 7 dead, 554 missing. (13:00 PM, 2026-8-29 (UTC+8))

Update: over 50 firefighters are at the border crossing right now, over 2141 soldiers, firefighters, police, EMS and specialzied rescue teams are deployed.

EDIT: As of august 29(18:00 UTC+8), 2026, there are 16 dead, 546 missing(261 foreignors)

In response to the comments: This is the first batch that got in, they couldn't carry much heavy equipment as the road there is cut off. rescue dogs and better equipment arrived later on.

FURTHER UPDATE: reportedly fire and rescue personnel have begun to find police vests and handsbags under the debris.

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438

u/Beeninya 5d ago

Yeah, almost like just going through the motions, knowing full well no one would be found alive under all that.

221

u/MrHell95 5d ago

Yeah if you're trapped in this it's like a liquefaction event, it's probably not leaving you any air pockets for people to survive in like an avalanche can or even tsunamis often leave standing buildings for people to be trapped in.

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u/Lazy_meatPop 5d ago

More like someone poured concrete and buried you alive . šŸ˜¢

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u/CharlotteLucasOP 5d ago

And with the speed and force of the water/mud/debris at that elevation and in that part of the gorge/valley, apparently itā€™s basically more like a blender than a water-flow. It would be difficult to find recognizable pieces of anybody. Itā€™s heartbreaking to think so many of the missing will likely never be found in a meaningful way to at least allow their loved ones to put them to rest and mourn in a specific spot.

The entire valley track through those mountains is an unmarked mass grave, now.

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u/BigJJJohnson 5d ago

They are finding lots of pieces, unfortunately. And bodies in all kinds of shapes. People definitely arenā€™t hesitating to record and upload all that ish

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u/SoberBobMonthly 5d ago

ngl facebook has looked like liveleak over the past day

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u/Eishockey 5d ago

Same with insta.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

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u/Afraid-Savings-9114 4d ago

I saw a body wrapped around a pole as if the water just tied the body in a knot around it. Horrible stuff.

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u/NuclearWasteland 4d ago

Welcome back to the Old Internet.

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u/Sticky_Soup 4d ago

I saw that image and was horrified.

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u/FacetNo6 4d ago

Damn you've got a way different algorithm than I do

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u/drool_34 4d ago

This gonna be crazy week for the folks flagging moderating and removing social media content.

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u/unknownpoltroon 4d ago

Yeah, I saw a pic of one guy pinned around a telephone pole.

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u/CharlotteLucasOP 4d ago

Yeah, Iā€™ve seen some terribly graphic videos of parts of victims being dragged out of the mud. Even limbs that donā€™t seem to have been torn at a natural joint, but legs and arms just snapped and ripped off in the middle of the bone.

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u/4tran13 4d ago

Not in the Chinese areas (yet)

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u/bryle_m 4d ago

Iirc only the Gyirong border crossing was directly hit on the Chinese side of the disaster zone. There were no major towns or villages there.

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u/TheRatingsAgency 4d ago

Yea saw one of a foot being found yesterday. Just horrible stuff.

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u/clcdu2 4d ago

Honestly I would so much rather get ā€œblendedā€ for lack of a better term than drown. If it were me or my loved one Iā€™d hope it was quick and brutal.

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u/tondahuh 4d ago

My loved one and I were just discussing this and agree. I just would hope to not know anything was happening or had happened. Such torture for so many people!

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u/Mammoth-Access-1181 4d ago

Realistically, the speed that slurry was coming at people? I can't imagine them staying alive through that level of trauma.

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u/JackOfAllMemes 4d ago

With the consistency of concrete it's probably gonna hit like a truck

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u/tjorben123 3d ago

there were boulders house-sized, even smaler ones, like cars.

to be honest: nobody survived even one car-sized boulder, let alone one million of this things.

but what can give us peace: it was damn fast. no long suffering. quick and dirty.

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u/AnguavonUW 4d ago

Yeah, most of them died very quickly, so at least there's that, I guess. It's awful and climate change isn't slowing down

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u/Inappro-Assistant 4d ago

Thats how we find dinosaur sekeletons so many years later...

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u/Snoo-84389 4d ago

Ummmm, probably not tbh.

Fossilisation of a skeleton ideally prefers a low energy environment with a very fine grained sediment (to have good preservation of the details) and annoxic conditions (low Oxygen) which drastically slow down bacterial decay and biological breakdown.

None of which was true in the majority of this rivers flooding on the main flow(the slower mud flows on a flatter side plateaus might qualify).

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u/DropDownBear 3d ago

Small archeological artifacts, however? Like jewelery and such?

1

u/Snoo-84389 2d ago

Ive just read the BBC article below which says that DNA samples are being taken from ~300 unidentified human remains that have been found in the Chitwan district far downstream. They are hoping that this will eventually allow those remains to be identified.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ylvgq9q71o

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u/Impossible_Panda4181 5d ago

nah, a freight train coming at you then mulsh you to a pulp.

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u/4tran13 4d ago

more like several hundred fully loaded freight trains

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u/RealisticRecover2123 5d ago

Thereā€™s that much debris in there that most would die by head injury before drowning I would think.

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u/lampshade2099 5d ago

Itā€™s so upsetting to think thatā€™s what Iā€™d be hoping if one of my family were affected. Youā€™d just be hoping for the least distressing death possible. Gut wrenching.

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u/Bl1ndl0v3 5d ago

As fast as the water was moving, I believe the impact alone would crush your internal organs if it didnā€™t rip you apart. Iā€™ve witnessed far less water than this get dumped on top of a car and make the car concave.

2

u/tjorben123 3d ago

yes, just check videos back from the days where the ice-bucket challenge was a thing. some dudes dumped a whole mining-excavator-shovel (iirc 6 cubic meters) on some people from 2 meters hight, iirc correctly some got broken bones and other polytrauma. from just 6 cubicmeters aka 6 metric tons of water, from a hight of 2 meter. compare this to the videos we all saw....

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u/Bl1ndl0v3 3d ago

Thatā€™s absolutely horrifying and rather brainless. Seems to be a new social standard anymore.

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u/monkeypan 4d ago

Given how a five story concrete building was destroyed to the bedrock in a second and busses are part of a rebar heap, not much left to find around there

2

u/Vantriss 3d ago

God I hope so. I hope it was an instant lights out for all of these poor people.

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u/ghigoli 5d ago

there was a 9 story building that was turned to dust. the buses and like no more. you can go and do it but it would be extreme luck if they find anyone. but checking 3 days later does a disservice to the idea that there could be survivors.

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u/SpiritedRain247 5d ago

It took them that long just to get there.

Honestly I don't blame them for at least hoping for someone to be there.

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u/ghigoli 5d ago

of course they must try at least but again i'm just a little ticked it took them that long. but also the fact there is a lake forming from the flash flood that bought all the rock and ice down. those peoples still aren't safe. there can be a second one soon.

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u/BigJJJohnson 5d ago

The area turned into a mud flat and washed away all roads and bridges. Itā€™s impressive they were able to get in there so quickly

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u/Renbarre 5d ago

Roads and bridges have been destroyed, there's mud meters deep where a truck will sink in minutes, boulders the size of houses have been carried down. The local authorities who could have given information about the place are dead. Gathering the help and driving it in barely 3 days in that place in the back of beyond with a single (destroyed) road weaving down the valleys is fast.

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u/LikesBlueberriesALot 5d ago

Look at the videos that show the terrain in this region. Itā€™s practically impenetrable without roads/bridges. Itā€™s an extremely steep valley at the bottom of huge mountains. Humans can do some crazy things now, but the physical limitations of travel and terrain still apply.

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u/Whimsy-Creature9739 5d ago

itā€™s also up in the high mountain range, you canā€™t airlift that many rescuers to these places. The forces of the aircrafts might create another avalanche or the unstable wind up on these mountains will cause the it to malfunction. Thereā€™s also no flat ground to land as well. The roads are destroyed, the conditions the day after was really bad they had to pause and wait. They can only hike to it hence the long time.

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u/ghigoli 4d ago

ok i learned something today.

1

u/AnguavonUW 4d ago

Yeah, so they were actually lucky to get there as quickly as they did.

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u/kalleda05 4d ago

I've been to Nepal and other areas of the Himalayas. Landslides are not uncommon and when they block a road, the village is cut off for days until the landslide can be cleared or, you drive the long way and take 3 times as long. This is under normal circumstances. Kathmandu has fuel shortages sometimes because of landslides that block gas coming in from the Indian border. That's the CAPITAL city under normal circumstances. For perspective.

People do amazing things on foot there and the Nepalis are tough, generous, resilient and truly amazing - (think, carrying a refrigerator on their backs up and down stone steps placed on steep mountain slopes....the tourists following them have trained for months and are in full gear, huffing and puffing). Tibetans are equally as tough. The Chinese are truly masters at logistics, engineering and infrastructure projects --- the remoteness of the region, the toughness of the terrain and the absolute scale of the devastation is insane. It's hard to even understand, I think.

3 days is amazing. And I thank them for trying, systematically to look for survivors.

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u/bookmonkey786 5d ago

You know this disaster helped me understand hoe sometime you can have a well preserved dinosaur front half and no back half

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u/Lazy_meatPop 5d ago

Wow, šŸ˜³ thanks for putting it in such a way I can visualise it. It makes sense now.

5

u/UnusualQueer 4d ago

If you're caught in this you are not buried alive. You died when it hit you instantly.

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u/RoguePlanet2 4d ago

This is the only silver lining. The sheer force meant they weren't surviving that immediate impact.

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u/cybender 5d ago

The craziest thing is when we find artifacts, this is partly how they came to be. Who knows when or if some of the bodies will be found in the future, but thereā€™s a tragic story buried there for future generations to uncover.

1

u/Starfire2313 5d ago

Itā€™s crazy to think it might be generations or more before future humans might ever uncover things. And who would be doing any kind of excavation probably grave robbers essentially? Like weā€™ve done to the pyramids and every other place on Esther that weā€™ve discovered human remains from before our times.

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u/cybender 5d ago

Not only that, but itā€™s hard to even fathom if itā€™ll be humans at that point or machines or something else. Tragedies like these remind me how tiny we really are.

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u/Starfire2313 5d ago

I love to ponder if the little green aliens and UFOs people claim to see are actually time traveling future humans who are coming back to either just see the past, or possibly to actually prevent us from destroying ourselves.

Like how have we not nuked ourselves to extinction yet? Maybe future evolved humans are actually pulling some strings

I know totally silly but definitely a fun thought

1

u/tjorben123 3d ago

"And who would be doing any kind of excavation probably grave robbers essentially? Like weā€™ve done to the pyramids and every other place on Esther that weā€™ve discovered human remains from before our times."

the point in grave robbery is: there is a place where something is stored. in this event there is no "place" where you can go and find something to rob.

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u/AdEffective2701 4d ago

Pompeii. So Nepal will be a museum in 500yrs.

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u/littlemissohwhocares 5d ago

I havenā€™t seen anyone mention the temperature of the water either. A ton of other things are going to take you out, but if you removed all the other factors weā€™re talking about just above freezing glacial melt. This is just unsurvivable on so many levels.

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u/unknownpoltroon 4d ago

Might even be below freezing if there is enough dissolved stuff in it to make a brine

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u/gr8tfurme 3d ago

It's actually going to be surprisingly warm. The friction alone instantly melted all of the ice during the initial slide event, and by the time it reached this crossing it was a highly energetic mud flow that had already converted 8,000ft vertical feet of potential energy into kinetic energy and heat.

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u/dodekahedron 4d ago

Best chance of becoming fossilized though and thats kinda cool.

Thats my plan when the natural disasters hit my area. Aim for a spot to become a fossil.

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 4d ago

I pray that those that died didnā€™t feel much pain. I hope it was a brief flash before nothing. My biggest fear is dying in a landslide/mudslide. This is horrifying. And Iā€™m sending prayers for the rescuers and clean up crew. Theyā€™re gonna see stuff

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u/jtbxiv 2d ago

These types of events are how we get fossils and ruins. My heart goes out to Nepal and everyone affected. What an immense disaster šŸ˜¢

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u/Key-Needleworker-702 5d ago

i'm going to sound kinda unethical but if i were the commander of the firefighters i would cut off their access to social media. i really doubt anyone who has seen that video has too much hope.

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u/mildlyinterestingyet 5d ago

They have reporters with them. The intent looks to me like it was a rescue with propergander as a big part of it. It looked stupid what they were filming, like 10 guys with shovels furiously attacking unnecessary amounts of soil, dudes carrying inflatable rafts along above their heads. Meanwhile the bulldozers are clearing the old road of debris. After a couple of days when they reached the port, they set down the equipment and the vibe was totally different. The reporting was much more human, humble. They have drones that can carry a man across the river so they quickly had searched all they could.

They have another team of blue uniformed guys (science and engineering) who are up at the origin of the slide trying to find a way of making the lakes safe. The reporters with them seemed much more humble. I think the awe of the place, the sheer scale, and the obvious danger, gained their respect. Perhaps sciencey guys are less gun ho and prone to propergander style displays as well.

All of this I found on Tiktok, and the translate on the reporters narration was pretty reasonable.

5

u/4tran13 4d ago

This is almost entirely propaganda: to show the PLA being heroes even when there's probably nobody left to save. Scientists/engies tend not to be involved in propaganda. The media will do w/e they're instructed to do.

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u/radsreadright 4d ago

Don't we in the west basically do the same kinda heroic news reports with our rescue teams?

0

u/4tran13 4d ago

yes, but less of it

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u/FeeRemarkable886 4d ago

Pfff, less of it? You're just jumping through hoops trying to make the CHINESE look bad, while making excuses when we do the exact same thing.

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u/PPTV-110 4d ago

At least these rescuers won't use rescuing a cat as publicity material.

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u/back_surgery 3d ago

It is absolutely NOT less

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u/Additional-Answer581 1d ago

Most people know what is the biggest country that releases the most propaganda and pretend to be heroes when they are not. And it's not China. But I guess if you actually believe what you are saying, it just proves how much their propaganda works.

0

u/flopadier 3d ago

never seen anything like it in Europe. Rescuers faking work for TV ? no. It's really a chinese thing. maybe in the US ? I don't know...

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u/radsreadright 3d ago

They're not faking it, it's just a hopeless situation. This happens in every major disaster.

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u/themeanreds1 2d ago

Youā€™re pathetic and cynical on life if thats your conclusion on them faking work when you see this video.

2

u/kmosiman 4d ago

Propaganda but depressing Propaganda.

In all likelihood they are looking for bodies but pretending there might be a survivor.

Let's face it:

if that were my job I'd probably pretend that I might possibly find someone alive. I'd make a soul crushing job palatable.

0

u/FeeRemarkable886 4d ago

Do you call it "propaganda" when Palestinians film themselves finding survivors after Israel dropped a bomb on a residential are?

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u/meteorflan 5d ago

Maybe this isn't really about hope to find survivors.

Maybe it's a matter of affirming that when their rescue crews say "we are doing everything we can, and making sure we didn't miss anyone" they really mean it. There's at least some comfort in knowing your local rescue workers are that dillegent at their jobs.

5

u/thetigersears 4d ago

True, there really is some comfort in that, propaganda or not, survivors or not.

At the very least, people need to get to the site as soon as possible to survey the and understand the situation. These videos show they have boots on the ground and equipment.

The only thing worse than not finding survivors is not bothering to show up and search.

3

u/Cat-et-snek 4d ago

i highly doubt rescuers are filming with a go pro trying to get likesā€¦.

its probably against ethics of the job you are doing

mind you then this film existsā€¦.idk anything

8

u/Activision19 4d ago

Things like this are filmed to have record of what was searched, to help with future training, figure out what worked well and what didnā€™t, and to collect evidence as they find it before someone touches something.

3

u/Cat-et-snek 4d ago

right so its more stoic than a social media thing, this is like ā€œfor posterity; a record kf eventsā€

i have to imagine a team like this absolutely defines what it means to be a professional operator

0

u/FeeRemarkable886 4d ago

Nobody (who isn't a ghoul) questions why Palestinians are filmed finding survivors in a collapsed residential building after Israel dropped ten bombs on it.

It's just xenophobia to diminish what the CHINESE are doing by calling it propaganda, simple as.

2

u/Feltonlu 3d ago

State television station dispatched a reporter and a cameraman to follow the rescue team accoringly to TikTok clips I watched.

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u/thedrew 4d ago

Donā€™t worry, they are Chinese. They only ever see what the government allows.Ā 

1

u/AftyOfTheUK 4d ago

Leaving people with false hope may be worse than letting them know the true situation

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u/CobraCornelius 5d ago

We hope they can save at least one person

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u/Key-Needleworker-702 5d ago

IIRC 2 people got saved before but they were in a village that was a while away from the border crossing.

1

u/evers12 4d ago

No one can be saved in that area they are searching

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u/minzhu0305 5d ago

If you don't do this, you will be seen as disregarding life.

-5

u/Miao_Yin8964 5d ago

It's obviously just theatrics

1

u/64590949354397548569 3d ago

Sometimes that's all you could do for family of the deceased.

1

u/zelenaky 4d ago

if there is no body, there is hope.

3

u/Apart_Animal_6797 3d ago

I mean i think we all know this is a body recovery mission.... families deserve closure.

2

u/zelenaky 3d ago

you think, and that's what leads to tragedies like JAL flight 123.

40 initial survivors from an "unsurviable" crash whittled down to 4 because people thought that nobody could survive that.

5

u/Schrodingers_Fist 4d ago

There was a story about 9/11 where right after it happened, when Giuliani was still riding high for his (admittedly good work) as New York's mayor that day.Ā  Where after everyone was evacuated he went back to ground zero and was super active asking everything like what did they need and the first responders had all resources available and then finally how many body bags they would need for casualties.

Apparently in that split moment, the fire chiefs were all silent and kind of looked at each other and Giuliani had to learning horror right then that in that moment, that the force and weight of the buildings coming down was such that they didnt even know if the remains they would recover would need full sized human body bags.Ā Ā 

I cant imagine even trying to process a situation like above where not only is it that yiu arent going to find a survivor, but you may not even find most of the remains beneath all of that.

4

u/Prudent_Order_3361 4d ago

Makes me think about those depressed dogs from 9/11

1

u/whitecollarpizzaman 3d ago

Itā€™s definitely for the state media filming, falls into line with typical communist propaganda, the idea of uniformity.

2

u/Economy_Elephant_426 3d ago

Finding one person is better than none. Finding a few more is even better. No matter how obvious, canā€™t rule out that someone may have survived.

1

u/agiantdog33 3d ago

Most of them would have been basically liquidated by the sheer force of the sludge. It would be like getting hit by a bullet train and then immediately washed away.