Salyan, September 1
For 23-year-old Birendra Rana, the search for his father has taken him from hospitals and police stations in Chitwan and Nuwakot to Rasuwa and Kathmandu. His father, 43-year-old Nim Prakash Rana of Gurudase in Kumakh Rural Municipality-3, has been missing since the devastating Bhotekoshi flood on August 26.
Birendra has searched everywhere he could. He has called relatives, checked lists of injured people and visited hospitals, hoping to find some trace of his father.
“We went to different hospitals thinking he might have been injured. We also went to Rasuwa and Nuwakot. We found nothing,” Birendra said. “Even without knowing whether he was alive, we went from hospital to hospital hoping we might find his body. Our relatives have gone as far as Chitwan and Pokhara. But there is still no information.”
He still hopes his father is alive. But as the days pass, that hope is increasingly mixed with fear.
Birendra’s family is not the only one in Gurudase waiting for answers. Six other men from the village — 60-year-old Durga Bahadur Rana, 40-year-old Ganesh Rana, 25-year-old Nabin Rana, 55-year-old Jhyase Rana, 27-year-old Nandaram Rana and 24-year-old Chitrabahadur Rana — have also been missing since the flood.
All of them had travelled to Rasuwa about a month and a half ago in search of work. Their families have been left waiting for news.
Five members of one family missing
For the family of Salleri in Sharda Municipality-13, Salyan, the flood has brought a particularly painful wait. Five members of the same family have been missing from Timure, Rasuwa, since the disaster.
They are 32-year-old Pramila Budhathoki, 28-year-old Laxmi Budhathoki, 17-year-old Prabin Budhathoki, 39-year-old Rita Budhathoki and 44-year-old Rimbahadur Budhathoki.
Some had been living in Rasuwa for as long as three years, while others had arrived only a year earlier. They had gone there in search of work and opportunities along the China border.
Nisha Khadka Budhathoki has been left without contact with five members of her family at once — her elder sister-in-law, aunt-in-law, younger uncle, younger aunt and brother-in-law.
“We feel that our people are still alive,” Nisha said. “But when we hear that so many bodies have been recovered, we are afraid that they too may have died.”
The family knows that the five had left the room where they were staying after the flood. Since then, however, there has been no word about where they went or what happened to them.
“We hoped they might be somewhere in the forest, but there has been no news for so many days,” Nisha said. “Even if they are alive, we are afraid of what may have happened to them after being exposed to so much water without food or water. It feels like a terrible tragedy has struck our family.”
The family has released their photographs in the hope that someone may have information about their whereabouts.
55 of 59 reported missing still unaccounted for
According to Salyan Chief District Officer Mahendrakumar Sapkota, details of 59 people from the district were reported to the District Police Office as missing following the disaster.
Of them, 55 remain unaccounted for. Four have since made contact.
Since the disaster, various reports have circulated on social media and through other channels claiming that missing people have been found, injured or identified among recovered bodies.
The district administration has urged families not to treat such information as confirmed until it has been verified by the authorities.
Sapkota has also urged families to immediately inform the police or administration if a missing person makes contact or if a body is identified. Such information will help authorities proceed with rescue, relief and compensation-related processes.
Ayush’s first government posting ended in the flood
For some families from Salyan, the wait for a missing relative has already ended in grief.
The body of 21-year-old Ayush Khadka of Bagchaur Municipality-10 was recovered.
But his family could not bring his body home for the final rites. As the body began to deteriorate, he was cremated on Monday at Devghat, at the confluence of the Kali Gandaki and Trishuli rivers.
Ayush had passed the Public Service Commission examination, and his first government posting was at the quarantine office in Timure, Rasuwa, in April.
He had plans for the future. He was preparing to return home to sit for his bachelor’s examination. He had planned to reach Kathmandu on September 3 and return to his home district for the examination on September 7.
The flood on August 26 brought those plans to an end.
A life that made it out of the darkness
While some families continue to search for their loved ones and others have begun mourning them, some survived experiences that could easily have ended differently.
Among them is Sabin Reule of Triveni Rural Municipality-4.
Reule was working inside a hydropower tunnel when conditions suddenly changed. A strong rush of air came through the tunnel, followed shortly by a power outage. The tunnel was plunged into darkness, and it became unclear whether it was safe to exit.
Local residents were also inside the tunnel. When they tried to get out after the lights went off, they discovered that one of the routes had already been blocked.
“While we were working, there was suddenly a rush of air and the power went out. The tunnel became completely dark,” Reule said. “There were local people with us. They had tried to get out as soon as the power went off, but one side of the tunnel had already been blocked. We managed to survive by entering through the other side.”
The Rasuwa flood has not only taken lives and disrupted the livelihoods of people who travelled there from Salyan for work. It has also left families across the district living with uncertainty.
The cooking fires continue to burn in their homes, but there is little peace inside them.
Some families still look toward the door, hoping their loved one might return.
