A Nepali resident in Dubai is inconsolable with grief after more than 100 of his friends and neighbours lost their lives in the floods that devastated his hometown.
Ram Kumar Rijal weeps as he remembers school friends, neighbours and comrades with whom he did business in Trishuli Bazar, a popular market area in the Nuwakot district of Nepal that was battered by the natural disaster.
The Dubai resident also lost a nephew who worked in a hydropower plant where dozens of others are still listed as missing.
He learnt the extent of the tragedy through messages and phone calls with his family. Mr Rijal’s wife, two sons and grand-daughter had time to flee from the swollen Trishuli river and reach higher ground.
“I know hundreds of people who are all gone, should I say all their names?” said Mr Rijal, 47, who moved to Dubai to work for a car hire firm four months ago. “I know who had a grandchild recently, in whose house there was a wedding, which school their children went to.
“It’s too much for me to think of how many we have lost, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t think. For days I have not slept. One friend lost 57 relatives, he is the only one alive. Some people had family in seven houses and all seven houses are gone.
“More than 570 neighbours, people from my village, are all gone,” he added. “I know more than 110 very well, it is a pain that is too heavy. I studied, worked and went out with them.”
Lives lost and saved
More than 1,200 people are known to have died and more than 4,200 are missing after the catastrophic floods believed to have been triggered by a glacial collapse, when chunks of ice and rock swept through the Himalayan valley, wiping out entire towns and villages.
In Mr Rijal’s hometown, the deadly surge swept away people working in farms, shops in the busy market and split up families on either side of bridges that connect the district. He breaks down as he speaks of the friend who survived because he had left home early that fateful day, only to lose 57 relatives.
“This is not something you would ever think would happen in your worst nightmare. How do I give my friends strength when I have none?” Mr Rijal said. “Our home has a beautiful river and there were six bridges across it – all gone. The bazar is the central point where everyone met – all gone. Thirteen people working in the fields near the river – all gone in an instant. The situation is like this – children don’t have parents, parents don’t have children. Those who are alive ran to safety with just the T-shirt, the clothes they were wearing – that is all they have.”
There are stories of courage, such as Rajendra Dawadi, a classmate of Mr Rijal's who is being hailed as a hero. The principal of the local school acted quickly to evacuate all 900 children before floodwater tore into the building in Trishuli Valley.
“These children are our lives, our hearts,” Mr Rijal said. “My friend saved their lives and gave us hope. But a teacher and the man who rang the school bell every day for the past 45 years have died.”
Swallowed up
Social media platforms were filled with visuals of townspeople standing on a bridge taking videos of the swirling river as it came barrelling towards them. Mr Rijal said flood warnings sent out by the administration were not taken seriously because similar alerts were sent last year.
“The flood last year was not big, so this time people were standing on bridges taking photos and video to post on TikTok,” he said. “But from one bridge to the other, it took seconds for the river waves to reach.”
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Rescue workers clear the way in a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, as they search for survivors after deadly flash floods. Reuters -
Nepali soldiers take part in the rescue operation a tunnel at the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project site, in Rasuwa district. AFP -
Rescuers are searching for the 933 workers believed to be trapped across 11 hydropower projects in Nepal. AFP -
India has sent military personnel to aid the search in the Rasuwa tunnel. AFP -
Army personnel conducting a search and rescue operation at a tunnel site of the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower project in Rasuwa. AFP -
Rescuers work near the tunnel of Nepal's Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project. Reuters -
Diggers are used to clear way to a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project, after the flash floods. Reuters -
The disaster damaged tunnel at the plant on the banks of the swollen Trishuli River. Getty Images -
A glacier collapse caused a deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris to hit parts of Nepal and China's Tibet region. Reuters -
Rescue workers search for survivors in the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Project tunnel. Reuters -
Emergency personnel clear debris in a hydropower tunnel in Nepal's Rasuwa district. Reuters
Mr Rijal has a plot of land near the river where his family grew rice but it vanished when the river burst its banks. Homes were pounded with muddy water that carried boulders, trees, sediment and flattened entire settlements. His hillside home and a small disposable cup manufacturing unit he owns within it were spared.
“The people who supplied raw material, the friends I sold the cups to – no one remains. Our sadness is too deep,” said Mr Rizal, who had previously worked in Dubai for 11 years as a bus driver. When he returned to Nepal in 2019 to care for his parents, he drove a public bus from Trishuli Bazar to Kathmandu, strengthening his bond with the community. He left to work in the UAE in April.
“I knew hundreds of people. If a child was born I knew, if someone was ill I knew. Everyone knew me because I was their bus driver,” Mr Rijal said. “These are hardworking people. They opened their shops at 4am and closed up at 10pm. Now there are no people, no places to sit, no houses.”
He spoke of his despair at the unimaginable scale of destruction, with families unable to retrieve the bodies of loved ones buried under the debris. His said he now wants to give strength despite being thousands of miles away.
“There is no city now – only mud. My family is so scared. They saw the river come up so high. I cry and they cry,” said Mr Rijal. “But I tell my family and my friends not to lose hope. We will come back from this. It may take us 10 to 20 years but we will come back. We will work very hard. I tell them all is not lost. We will rebuild.”
