NEW DELHI: A day after over 100 people died and hundreds went missing as a wall of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river at the Nepal-China border near Tibet early on Wednesday, people in Delhi and across the world took to social media to seek help in tracing their missing relatives and friends.
Delhi University’s Nepalese Students’ Association, which has several members with roots in regions severely hit by the floods, remains on alert. The body has been trying to contact students and their families affected by the catastrophe and has also appealed to Delhi residents to come forward if they need any assistance.
Lavanya, president of the students’ body in Delhi, said “We have been on alert since last evening. We have tried to contact almost all students associated with our group, but most of them are from west Nepal, and their families have not been affected. We are spreading the word. We have asked the students if any of their families are affected or if anyone needs assistance.”
For students living thousands of kilometres away from their families, the uncertainty has been particularly difficult. One DU student said her parents were safe outside the affected area, but her uncle, aunt and cousins living in a flood-hit region could not be contacted.
“It is a difficult situation for all of us to handle while we are staying so far off,” she expressed. Across social media platforms, several “lost and found” pages have emerged, with families posting photographs, names and last-known locations of missing people in the hope that someone on the ground could provide information about their whereabouts.
An X user going by the name Radhika Sharma tweeted that her parents, US citizens Ramesh and Neelam Sharma, had been missing since the floods struck.
An urgent appeal by another man on X sought information about his children, who had travelled to the Rasuwa area.
The post read, “Urgent notice—my son Prahwal Thapa and daughter Pranisha Thapa went to Rasuwa area. The family is extremely worried about their condition. If you have seen them, met them or have any information about their whereabouts, please immediately contact us.”
In another case, a Kolkata woman who had travelled alone on a Mansarovar yatra has gone missing, leaving her son hoping for her safe return.
Meanwhile, the Delhi-based Hemkunt Foundation has offered to send relief material to Nepal and urged the government to allow it to travel to the affected areas.
25 back from Mansarovar
The Delhi government is currently gathering information about city residents who travelled to flash flood-affected areas in Nepal and beyond. A group of 25 individuals who visited Mansarovar before the natural disaster has returned.
Bus service put on hold
The Delhi government has temporarily put on hold the “Indo-Nepal Maitri Bus Sewa” for the next two days as a preventive measure due to massive flash floods, an official order said.
Still missing
An X user, Radhika Sharma, said her parents Ramesh and Neelam Sharma, had been missing.