Now I Have Nothing Left to Live For: Nepal Flood Survivor
Sangke Dolma Tamang, 61, was preparing snacks in Nepal’s Mailung village when a devastating flash flood suddenly swept through the community.
She and her family raced towards higher ground, but her husband slipped from her grasp and was carried away by the raging waters.
“Others tried to pull him to safety, but the flood swept him away,” Tamang said, fighting back tears.
Her son also remained missing after the disaster, while her home and belongings were destroyed by the floodwaters.
“Now I have nothing left to live for,” she said. “The whole house is gone. We couldn’t salvage anything.”
The tragedy began after a glacier collapsed in the Himalayas, triggering a destructive surge of water, mud and debris along the Bhote Koshi River.
At least 579 people have died, while more than 1,900 remain missing, according to figures reported two days after the disaster.
Rescue operations have been difficult because several badly affected communities remain accessible only by helicopter.
At an army barracks in Bidur, helicopters continued transporting survivors to safety while others delivered food, clean water and emergency supplies.
Another survivor, 60-year-old Murali Maiya Tamang, was rescued after being found clinging to a tree as floodwaters destroyed her home.
Her son disappeared during the disaster, years after her husband died in Nepal’s 2015 earthquake.
“My husband had already died in Nepal’s 2015 earthquake,” she said. “Now this flood has taken away the only son I had left.”
“I am all alone now. What is the point of living now?” she added, overwhelmed by the loss.
Nepali army spokesperson, Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet, said helicopter rescue operations would continue for as long as people remained missing.
“Right now, our focus is mostly on finding the living,” Basnet said, acknowledging the difficulty of establishing the final death toll.
The floods also devastated hydroelectric projects along the river, with several workers trapped inside tunnels filled with mud and debris.
Rescuers later pulled some workers from the tunnels as emergency teams searched for others who remained trapped.
In Bidur, businesses, government buildings and homes were left buried beneath thick layers of mud after the flood swept through.
Shopkeeper Ashok Chaurasia said he heard the terrifying roar of approaching water before fleeing towards safety.
He survived by clinging to a monastery wall, but his nephew and sister-in-law were swept away.
“We had a three-storey house here, and now there isn’t even a single brick left,” Chaurasia said.
“We have nothing to eat or wear. The flood took everything I have,” he added.
Nepal’s newly elected Home Minister, Sudan Gurung, said rescuing missing people remained the government’s immediate priority.
He said authorities were searching for everyone, including Nepali citizens and foreign nationals, while treating every missing person as potentially alive.
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