They lost loved ones in Nepal\u2019s flood but found a way through grief\nto help others<\/p>\n
From a Chinese man searching for his wife to volunteers helping\ndisplaced children, people have had to confront personal tragedy even as\nmany of them support others devastated by the disaster. Nepal: The\nFlood\u2019s Wake tells their stories.<\/p>\n
KATHMANDU, Nepal: After searching six hospitals, Guan Daoxuan still\ndid not know whether his wife, 37, was alive.<\/p>\n
She had been working on a highway project near the Nepal-China border\nwhen the devastating flood of Aug 26 struck. A friend in the Nepalese\ngovernment alerted Guan about the disaster, telling him to check whether\nshe was safe.<\/p>\n
When he could not get through to her, the 38-year-old knew \u201csomething\nwas seriously wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n
He asked his in-laws to look after their nine-year-old grandson,\nsaying only that he had an urgent matter to attend to, before travelling\nfrom Chengdu to Kathmandu in search of his wife.<\/p>\n
The boy knew about his mother, Guan said, but did not \u201cfully grasp\nthe gravity of the situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
In Nepal, Guan joined other families waiting for news, scanning\nmissing person notices for a familiar face or name. More than a week\nlater, still nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to tell her that no matter how far away she is, I\u2019m going to\nbring her home,\u201d he vowed, overcome with emotion. \u201cDead or alive, she\u2019s\ncoming home with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Close to 1,460 people have died and more than 5,000 \u2014 including\nGuan\u2019s wife \u2014 remain missing after an ice and rock avalanche high on\nLangtang Lirung mountain became a debris flow that thundered down the\nvalley below.<\/p>\n
More than 7,500 homes along the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river system have\nbeen damaged or destroyed, while only 112 bodies have been identified\nand handed over to their families.<\/p>\n
With the initial rescue phase over, much of the response has shifted\nto recovery efforts, which remain difficult and dangerous as swollen\nrivers, damaged roads and the threat of further landslides hamper access\nto affected areas.<\/p>\n
The CNA documentary, Nepal: The Flood\u2019s Wake, followed rescuers and\nvolunteers as they searched for missing persons, recovered bodies and\ncarried aid to survivors, even as many of them grieved for their own\nrelatives and friends.<\/p>\n
WATCH: The search for victims after Nepal\u2019s deadly flood (47:08)<\/p>\n
RECOVERING HUMAN REMAINS<\/p>\n
In Chitwan district, nearly 200km downstream from where the disaster\nbegan, civilian police and paramilitary Armed Police Force teams were\nsearching the Narayani River for bodies.<\/p>\n
Armed Police Force deputy superintendent Dharma Bahadur Thapa said\nmore than 360 bodies had been recovered after the Bhotekoshi flood, with\nbodies and body parts still being carried into the Narayani.<\/p>\n
The area\u2019s relatively flat terrain, he said, had contributed to the\nnumbers recovered there.<\/p>\n
But the search was hazardous. Rain had strengthened the river\ncurrents, with mud and construction debris also moving through the\nwater, and the waves were high enough to overturn their rafts, officers\nwarned.<\/p>\n
By the 11th day of operations, Nepal Police sub-inspector Sonu Kumar\nMishra said the recovery work was weighing on the teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brings (us) great sorrow because our brothers have ended up in\nsuch a state,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s painful to retrieve the bodies, but we\u2019re\ndoing so to prevent the situation from becoming more complicated and\nsevere.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the river islets, officers picked their way through marshy and\nquicksand-like ground, where they risked getting stuck. The search area\nincluded Chitwan National Park, where teams had to remain alert to\ntigers, rhinos and elephants.<\/p>\n
Under these conditions, they relied on small clues to locate human\nremains, such as strong odours or birds gathering in one spot. And when\na sharp whistle prompted officers to hurry over, it meant a body had\njust been discovered.<\/p>\n
The remains were wrapped in plastic, placed on a stretcher and\ncarried back to the raft. Thapa said the teams also doused dead bodies\nwith phenol, a disinfectant, to reduce the smell and bacteria first.<\/p>\n
Most bodies were so decomposed that forensic officers could not\ndetermine the gender. But they documented whatever identifying features\nremained. Tattoos, height and other physical markers may offer clues,\nbut for many families, identification ultimately depends on DNA.<\/p>\n
At a burial site in Chitwan, the district\u2019s police office chief,\nRameshwar Paudel, said 335 unidentified bodies had been placed there.\nInvestigators extracted teeth for DNA sampling; when teeth were\nunavailable, they collected bone samples instead.<\/p>\n
The samples were sent to the police forensic department for\ncomparison with DNA from relatives of missing persons, in the hope of\nreturning the dead to their families.<\/p>\n
For inspector Rabin Khadka of the Armed Police Force, the job of\nretrieving so many bodies had put him off meat. \u201cI just didn\u2019t want to\neat meat items (in the) last 10 days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But the prospect of returning flood victims to their families kept\nhim going.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel lucky that we may (be able to) hand over dead bodies to\ntheir relatives,\u201d he said in halting English. \u201cThat\u2019s (what) encourages\nus to deploy here and to take risky jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHUMANITY IS INSIDE HERE\u201d<\/p>\n
Nepalis are no stranger to natural disasters: Earthquakes, landslides\nand floods have repeatedly tested their communities. And now a new\ngeneration must learn to recover, rebuild and live with what this latest\ncatastrophe has left behind.<\/p>\n
In Nuwakot district, at an emergency shelter for displaced families,\nGautam Man Singh, 53, made sure to check on the children \u2014 where are\nyour slippers, he asked \u2014 and warn them not to wander outside.<\/p>\n
He and his friends opened the shelter the day after the disaster,\ncleaning an empty centre they found and using whatever money they had.\nFifteen people arrived on the first day, followed by another 73 over the\nnext two days, he recalled.<\/p>\n
Many of them came crying and in shock. Some children had lost parents\nand other family members. \u201cOne child yesterday (took) my hand and said,\n\u2018I want my mum,\u2019\u201d said Singh, a social worker. \u201cI had no answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
He, too, lost people he loved: 16 of his cousins and friends. \u201cMy\nmind is disturbed, definitely, but still, humanity is inside here,\u201d he\nsaid, gesturing towards his heart. \u201cSo I have to (help).\u201d<\/p>\n
That instinct to help is something Samir Gurung, 27, also has. He was\nat college when his friend, the president of youth-led non-profit\norganisation Hami Nepal, called him about the flood.<\/p>\n
He left immediately to manage tents and rations before joining teams\ncarrying food, medicine, water purifiers and cooking utensils to\nisolated communities.<\/p>\n
Gurung lost a cousin and his maternal uncle, a trekking guide who was\nreturning from Tibet\u2019s Mansarovar with Indian tourists, in the flood.\nStaying busy with relief work has helped him cope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the only thing that I can do right now to make sure that my\nmind doesn\u2019t go everywhere,\u201d he said. Being in the field \u201chelps me\nsuppress my emotions\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
But getting aid to rural areas was difficult. The flood had destroyed\nthe Trishuli Corridor, forcing the team to go off-road from village to\nvillage.<\/p>\n
Rain increased the risk of landslides, while warnings of another\nflood and large mudslides had everyone on high alert.<\/p>\n
It took his team six to seven hours to reach their final stop,\nMahabhir village. They pushed on up the mountains even as daylight faded\nand nightfall brought the danger of a rockfall tumbling down without\nwarning.<\/p>\n
The relief work left Gurung with mixed feelings. Facing bereaved\nfamilies was \u201creally hard\u201d, he said. With the scale of the devastation,\nthere were \u201cso many problems\u201d the volunteers could not solve, which ate\naway at him.<\/p>\n
But he was also glad to help where he could, despite the risks. \u201cIt\ngives me an opportunity to live my life completely,\u201d he said, \u201cto be\nhelpful to others as well who have needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
PREPARING FOR WHAT COMES NEXT<\/p>\n
For many survivors, what was needed was medical treatment.<\/p>\n
At one hospital where the Armed Police Force had deployed additional\ndoctors, consultant physician G R Khatri said they were seeing around\n100 to 150 patients, including people with fractures and soft tissue\ninjuries.<\/p>\n
Others were being treated for fever and illnesses that could spread\nthrough contaminated water or through mosquitoes, such as diarrhoea,\ndengue and malaria. The hospital had also become a temporary refuge for\nflood victims whose homes had been destroyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf (my grandsons) hadn\u2019t dragged me (to safety), I\u2019d have gone with\nthe flood,\u201d a woman told Khatri.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, residents and volunteers were finding ways to reconnect\nplaces cut off by the flood, which had destroyed more than 40 bridges in\nits path.<\/p>\n
Along the Trishuli, volunteers brought traditional zip-line trolleys\nback into use to carry people and cargo across the river. Hami Nepal\nalso deployed drones to transport relief supplies and recover human\nremains without exposing volunteers to dangerous crossings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to use new technology such as drones to assist in crisis\nmanagement during disasters and to instil new hope,\u201d said Hami Nepal\npresident Bishal Shrestha, 27.<\/p>\n
The flood also exposed weaknesses in Nepal\u2019s early warning system. In\nseveral places, sensors monitoring rising water went offline before they\ncould register the scale of the disaster.<\/p>\n
One gauge in the lower valley recorded a level of just 1.62m before\nit stopped transmitting. \u201cIt got washed away before it could speak out,\u201d\nsaid Saroj Dhoj Joshi, whose company develops flood monitoring\nsystems.<\/p>\n
He said Nepal needed a denser monitoring network, together with an\nalgorithm and computer system that can analyse signals from\nseismometers, geophones and accelerometers to pinpoint where a flood has\nlikely occurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have that technology yet, but that can be developed,\u201d he\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The need has become more urgent, as extreme events that used to occur\n\u201conce in five, six, 10 years\u201d may happen up to four or five times in a\nyear now, he added.<\/p>\n
Kathmandu University glaciologist Mohan Bahadur Chand described the\nHimalaya as geologically young and fragile, still shifting by a few\ncentimetres each year and vulnerable to earthquakes, landslides and\nrockfalls.<\/p>\n
With global warming and climate change expected to continue, \u201cthe\nmountain hazards are going to increase\u201d, said Binod Parajuli, a senior\nhydrologist in Nepal\u2019s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.<\/p>\n
And it is younger Nepalis in particular who are \u201cfacing all the\nconsequences\u201d, said Gurung. \u201cAs a green nation, we have very (little)\ncarbon emissions, but our surroundings \u2026 get affected as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where the country has shown its strength is in its communities coming\ntogether in the flood\u2019s wake and in its people showing up for others\ndespite suffering loss.<\/p>\n
As Singh put it: \u201cThis is my duty. These are my people, and \u2026 I have\nto do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch the documentary, Nepal: The Flood\u2019s Wake.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nepal-flood-survivors-turn-grief-into-support-for-others-1792018240", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }