Dil Bahadur Shrestha searches for his wife among the ruins of a village nearly wiped out by Nepal's flash floods
Dil Bahadur Shrestha is searching for his wife, Jamuna, in the mud of a village nearly destroyed by deadly flash floods in Nepal. The disaster, caused by a glacial collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border, sent a wall of water and debris downstream, killing more than 1,200 people in Nepal and Tibet. Dil Bahadur Shrestha and his wife were residents of Betrawati, a market town submerged in thick mud. While Dil Bahadur Shrestha was in a forest for safety, his wife was last seen in their home. Thousands of people remain missing, with over 5,000 reported missing in Nepal and 546 in the Tibet region of China. Rescue workers have struggled to reach the worst-hit areas due to treacherous conditions and washed-away highways. In the district of Rasuwa, many villages were swept away entirely, leaving hundreds of people stranded. In the district of Nuwakot, headteacher Rajendra Dawadi evacuated 900 children from a school just moments before the flood hit. The headteacher reported receiving warnings from upstream and acted quickly to move the students to higher ground.
Sources
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After the flood: human suffering on an unfathomable scale in Nepal’s worst-hit districts
The Guardian
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Last-minute flood warning saved over 900 Nepal students, school head says
Reuters
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Headteacher saves 900 children from deadly flash flood in Nepal