Shelter at the Monastery
Bhujung Tamang was airlifted with his wife and two daughters two days ago from what is left of his village near the Nepal-Tibet border. "We ran. That's why we are alive," he told the ABC. "We didn't even get any clothes. We ran to the jungle." He remembers being in the kitchen before the disaster struck and hearing a huge boom. "My home was swept away," he said. "If we had waited 10 minutes longer before running, then we would have been swept away."
He thinks three quarters of the population of his village, Timure, were killed, saying his neighbours were "buried" in mud and landslides. "We stayed there one night without food, then the next day a helicopter came and rescued everyone who was alive." While grateful to be alive, Mr Tamang didn’t even have shoes when he ran, and he found himself in the capital Kathmandu without money or a room to stay in. And so, his family made its way to the Gosok Phuntsok Choeling monastery. Usually a home to monks, it has opened its doors to those who have fled the disaster. "Now I’ve come to the monastery, if they give some food, I can eat, otherwise I don’t have any other option."
When the ABC visited the monastery, there were almost 200 people being cared for in the makeshift evacuation centre, run by volunteers who were largely young people from the disaster-affected area. Everyone in the centre has lost someone. Alina Lama, a trekking guide from the Rasuwa district, the hardest hit area, guides new arrivals to a small table where the names are recorded, while directing donations and speaking with other volunteers. She has family members missing and described the authorities' handling of airlifted survivors as "carelessness" from the Nepali government, saying some were left to make their own way to the capital.
The Missing
Almost 3000 people are still missing after the flash floods the tore through Nepal and part of Tibet, triggered when part of a Himalayan glacier broke off and crashed into the river below. Among the missing are relatives of those who have sought shelter. Aananda Thapa Magar, a 19-year-old student, lost his father, grandfather, uncle, brother, sister-in-law, and niece in the disaster. He hopes his father's body can be found to perform burial rituals.
Elsewhere, Gopal Thapa, owner of Leaf Holidays, a Kathmandu-based travel and trekking agency, flew straight into the disaster zone on Aug 26 after hearing about the flash flood. He hired a helicopter for around US$3,000 (S$3,824) to try and trace 55 people, including four Singaporeans, who were part of a group that the agency was escorting to Tibetfor the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage. The group was inside the Gyoring Port complex on the Nepal-China border when Thapa last spoke with them on Wednesday morning. They had cleared immigration on the Nepali side and were queueing up to clear remaining formalities on the Tibetan side.
Among those missing is his brother, Gokarna Thapa, 33, father of two children aged seven and one, who was leading the group, as well as eight other Nepalese staff from the agency. He has tried desperately each day to call their phones since Wednesday’s flash flood but has not been able to get through. "It has been very painful," he told The Straits Times. The 55-member group was an eclectic mix of nationalities, including 24 Malaysians, four Singaporeans, seven Ukrainians, an Italian, three Americans, two British, one Belarusian and 13 Nepalis (nine staff members and four "55 people missing, it is no small thing," Thapa said.
The Search
Thapa described the devastation he saw first-hand from the helicopter. "The situation was very bad," he told ST. The chopper didn’t even find a safe spot to land. "There were big houses and buildings(there once) but everything was washed away... Nothing was left, only the river bed."
He said, "I am not hopeful of any good news from there... I know very well because I saw the situation there." However, and against all odds, he is waiting for some good news from the Nepali authorities who are trying to rescue potential survivors. "We are hoping that from 55 at least one person, two persons maybe10 people survive... At least one... then I can know the news about what happened there," he said.
Reconstruction Costs
Nepal's Finance Minister said initial estimates of rebuilding cost between US$4 billion and US$5 billion. The full extent of the damage is still unfolding as rescue efforts continue.