New Delhi, Aug. 28 -- KATHMANDU - The pilgrims came to walk a sacred circle. At Mount Kailash, a 6,638-meter peak straddling the Nepal-Tibet border that draws Hindus and Buddhists from across Asia and beyond, completing the 52-kilometer circumambulation is considered a rite that washes away a lifetime of accumulated sin. This week, many of the pilgrims who made that journey are not coming home.

many of them pilgrims who had been at high-altitude campsites near Mount Kailash when the waters came.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said at least 10,000 families have lost their homes. Field teams reaching the most accessible parts of the disaster zone described settlements that had "simply disappeared," ab...