‘Where else would I go?’ Nepal flood survivors return to ruined homes as rescue efforts continue.
Residents are attempting to salvage belongings after returning to homes they were forced to flee with little notice that have been devastated by mud and debris.
A local resident looks at his flooded home in Dhading, about a 90-minute drive west of Kathmandu, Nepal, on Aug. 30, the fourth day since massive flooding struck the country.BYUN MIN-CHUL
DHADING, Nepal — “Even if it’s underwater, it’s still my home. Where else would I go?”
A 66-year-old resident let out a heavy sigh as he looked at his mud-buried home in Dhading, Bagmati Province, one of the areas devastated by Nepal’s massive floods, on Sunday morning.
He had lived there with his wife for more than 40 years.
The area was completely devastated. Dhading lies downstream from where the flooding began near the border between Nepal and the Tibet region of China. The area suffered extensive damage comparable to Rasuwa and Nuwakot, which were cut off by the floods.
Most buildings along the river had been swept away or damaged beyond recognition, while flooded vehicles were strewed about.
The man's home was also inundated. Gray mud covered the entire structure, and the couple had to evacuate without any belongings, including cash and clothes.
Yet he has remained near his home for four days.
A family looks at flood damage in a village in Dhading, about a 90-minute drive west of Kathmandu, Nepal, on Aug. 30, the fourth day since massive flooding struck the country.BYUN MIN-CHUL
“I met my wife here, and we raised our children here. I have nowhere else to go,” the resident said with tears in his eyes. “I have to come back here, so my sons-in-law are helping with the recovery.”
The area was fortunate to have avoided a large number of casualties. But evacuation warnings did not come in time for many residents, who fled their homes empty-handed.
Residents who evacuated have gradually begun returning to the village in hopes of salvaging household items and clothes.
A shop owner named Shankar is among them.
“Everything I was supposed to sell was submerged, but I’m cleaning the items one by one in the hope that the manufacturers might give me a refund if I send them back,” Shankar said. “This shop has supported my family for 30 years. I don’t know what to do now.”
Goods recovered from a flood-damaged supermarket in Dhading, about a 90-minute drive west of Kathmandu, Nepal, on Aug. 30BYUN MIN-CHUL
Fresh rain on Saturday pushed the river level higher again and renewed fears among the populace that another round of flooding could strike.
“The river is much higher than it was yesterday,” a resident named Basanta said. “We haven’t even started recovering yet. If another flood comes, we’ll be in serious trouble.”
The scale of the disaster extends beyond Nepal. Bodies have been found in neighboring India as far as 240 kilometers (149 miles) from where the flooding first began.
Floodwaters that started in Rasuwa flowed through Nepal’s Trishuli River and into India’s Gandak River. Some victims were swept downstream to areas that would take several hours to reach even by car.
Residents clear away trees along the Narayani River in Chitwan, Nepal, on Aug. 30 as recovery efforts continue following massive flooding in the Himalayan region near the border between Nepal and the Tibet region of China. The site is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) downstream from where the flooding began.YONHAP
The death toll from the floods stood at 750 as of Sunday morning, with more than 3,000 people missing.
Nepalese authorities have deployed military and rescue teams to search for the missing but have not accepted help from other countries, including Korea.
The Kathmandu Post reported on Thursday that Nepalese authorities rejected offers of foreign rescue teams in light of coordination problems after the devastating 2015 Nepal earthquake, when teams from multiple countries arrived at once.
Residents wait in front of a missing persons center in Chitwan, Nepal, on Aug. 30 as recovery efforts continue following massive flooding in the Himalayan region near the border between Nepal and the Tibet region of China. The center displays photographs of unidentified bodies to help people find family members they have been unable to contact.YONHAP
The restrictions have also complicated efforts to find nine Koreans who were caught up in the flood while working at the construction site of a hydroelectric power plant in Nepal.
A rapid response team dispatched to Nepal by the Korean government had been unable to deploy a helicopter because Nepalese military authorities denied permission, citing heavy air traffic. The team resorted to searching by land on Sunday.
“We plan to expand the search area. We are also asking the Nepalese authorities to conduct an active search,” a Korean government official dispatched to Nepal told reporters on Saturday.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
