Nepal floods: 'It was like a tsunami'

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1:13Gaurav:The Documentary, home of the best documentaries from the BBC World Service.

1:22Gaurav:Hello, I'm James Reynolds. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. This time in BBC Conversations, we bring people together to share their experiences of the floods in Nepal. A collapsing glacier is thought to be the cause of the massive flash floods that swept some 100 kilometres down Himalayan valleys in Nepal and Tibet. As we record this programme in London on Friday lunchtime, Nepal's disaster agency reports that at least 1 ,300 people have been killed. More than 5 ,000, though, remain missing and survivors continue to be found. The Chinese state media says that on the Tibetan side, the official death toll is 21, with more than 540 people unaccounted for.

2:13Gaurav:It is very difficult to verify this figure because of the strict controls that China imposes on the foreign media. We'll hear later from families of people missing, but for our first conversation, we wanted to get a sense of what it was like for those directly caught up in the disaster. We brought together Sakheel. His house was located 200 metres higher than the normal level of the Trishly River. And firstly, his friend, Gaurav, who owned a cafe some 10 kilometres upstream.

2:43Sakil:Anyone who knows our region, known as Trishly as a living, roaring giant, you know, it gives life to our valley, drawing travellers, adventurers and local togethers. For me that river valley was where I built my dreams you know. A small cafe born out of early mornings, endless passion and the simple desire to create a warm space where people could gather over a cup of warmth and conversation and that day while I was having my coffee a lot of children started running to the up hills you know. I asked what happened and they said a flood is coming. We got something like five to 10 minutes. I started running up hills and I saw my cafe drawing by that flood with my own eyes.

3:27Sakil:Within a few minutes, we lost everything. Everything swept away. It was like tsunami. Even its color, it was like cement plaster, like wet cement plaster. And if you go there right now, it's like concrete over there. The colour was really different from the normal rivers. It was quite devastating, you know.

3:50Gaurav:Did you think when the waters were coming that maybe there was a chance that you would get swept away in the floods yourself?

3:58Sakil:I started running up hills and my father was stopped there. I waited him, I shouted him to come over, but he just went to our farm, untying my animals, cows. and with my own eyes I can see those flood was coming towards us and I grabbed his hand and pulled him upwards then we ran but all of my family somehow managed to escape we all are fine even though I lost my business my cafe the place where I invested my six years trying to make something different all gone you know but somehow I managed to save my family.

4:37Gaurav:Let's bring in Sakil Do tell us about what happened to you that day, the day of the flood.

5:09Sakil:Take your families, go uphill. It's time to run. Everything in Trishulia has been wiped out. You need to run right now. We live in a large family of 22 peoples. So it was so panic to collect each and every one from my house and take them to the uphill. So I just start shouting, the flood is coming. Let's run. Let's run. Each and every one. But the place from the uphill, I see. Oh, my God. There was too much terrible, too much terrible. Everything's wiped out. The buildings are collapsing. My house has been stopped and hit by a big log. Just like Gaurav said, it was just like a tsunami. It's so high.

5:54Sakil:My house is about 200 meters from the river, but it was too high that it has just cleaned each and every things up to my third floor. each and everything my shop owned by my family completely gone each and everything i hold in my room completely gone only the lives has been saved nothing nothing remains my families are saved my friends are missing still missing so painful i just see each and everything from uphill my place where I was born. I was 37 years old. Right now, the memories, it's everything, everything. It's totally painful. When I got recalled, my heart starts to break. My assets have been gone.

6:44My memories

6:46Sakil:struck me and made me so much painful that each and everything, I still can't imagine. When I woke up, I just feel like, I'm just dreaming and everything is just not real. But I, sometimes I got to know that it was real. We have so much pain. Everything has been gone. I lost my relatives, four of my family, Karan Khativoda. We lost him. And my uncle, Narendra Joshi, he has not been found yet. And many more, you know. I really thank the friend, and called my brothers twice to run. He was the main reason that we and the neighbors of my village were able to save their lives. If he hadn't called us, then my family and my neighbors were not able to save their lives.

7:46Sakil:I just took a scooter. My brother took a car and put each and every member in the vehicles and run to the appeals. and two minutes, it's gone. My village is gone. I can see it from my whole eyes. Most of the people, they didn't listen, you know. They didn't thought that something like that big would come, you know. That's how they didn't make it, yeah. I'm still in my house that had been hit by the flood. I'm still holding my phone, seeing each and everything and still can't believe that this is my house and it was being affected by the flood. Everything is messy here. I just came here, managed to grab my belongings.

8:30Sakil:Everything has been cleaned and wiped out. Big, big logs came from the direction of a flood and hit the wall and cleaned each and everything. It's just like it cleaned and wiped out and someone puts mud about two or three meters. Mud, each and everything. It's like concrete. For me, I cannot process it for now, you know. My mind cannot process it for now. But we have to start it from zero, you know. I invested everything, everything in that cafe, and I have nothing left. For coming 10 years, I have to start it again from zero. So it's really going to be hard, I think.

9:12Gaurav:Would you want to start in the same place?

9:16Sakil:never I'm never going to start it in that same place I'm not going to start it in this district you know it's quite risky and I cannot forget everything what happened here all of my childhood place it's all gone so I cannot stay here you know all my memories and if you see today there's nothing left so I don't want to stay here now I would go somewhere else you know maybe Kathmandu It's quite near from here. I cannot express how could I rebuild because my properties have been destroyed. My house has been completely destroyed. I was not able to stay here, but I'm not leaving my district because I live in a big family and I need to think family's truth.

10:06Sakil:So I will continue my business, which is located seven kilometers away from here. This is my place where I live. It was not a place where I do business. But living in this house, the river has changed its track. Now it's so much close to my house. I cannot stay here because the trauma really hits in my brain. Every time I see the river, just like a recalling everything that i i feel in in the day seven or eight days ago so i don't think i'm going to stay here what about the help that has been offered

10:51Gaurav:to you as those who've lost everything during the floods have you received enough help sakil

10:58Sakil:yeah yeah i the locals peoples and the donations a lot of peoples a lot of peoples are donating each and everything but it's just not about donating we are able to have food but about the shelter we are just concerning about the shelter a lot of peoples have lots of goods and uh donations and things has been provided but when i think about the shelter i lost my house how could i rebuild it it's a generations generations of work how could i rebuild the same way the way i live the way i stay the luxurious life i i used to have i don't think I could have the same way that I used to have. No one wants to stay here in this village.

11:51Sakil:Everyone just seems like everything a lost village. No one wants to stay here. As for me, my business was already organized and I somehow started to earn some good money, you know, and I was giving jobs to a few people, seven, eight people, you know. And for that, it takes a lot of courage to give jobs here in Nepal to people, you know. I was quite happy about that. But now everything is gone. I cannot offer anything to anyone right now. I lost everything. But I think we can start over, you know. I'd like to say that it's just a pain shaking. more than five decades of my father, my brothers, hardworking, got wiped out.

12:43Sakil:You take years and years to build something which can be destroyed in a family. So that's me for everyone who's listening to this. Enjoy your life. Take care of your families. Take care of your friends. Take care of your health. Think about now, not about the patients. Live your life right now. In the same ten minutes, we have lost each and everything. Each and everything. Live your moment. I just feel right now that you need to feel and live in the moment, not for the days, not for the years. Enjoy your time right now.

13:24Gaurav:Godav and Sakil in one of the areas worst affected by the floods in Nepal. I'm James Reynolds. You're listening to the documentary from the BBC. World Service.

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15:33Gaurav:They were trapped in a hydroelectric power station tunnel along with many others. But thousands, including foreign nationals from India, the UK, Australia and the US, are still missing. For our second conversation, we brought together two people whose loved ones haven't been heard from since the disaster. In a moment, Sandeep in India, his niece is missing. Firstly, Vaishnavi. She's in Sydney, Australia. She's missing four members of her family. My sister, so she's my oldest sister, Shailaja. My brother-in-law, Chandrasekhar and Murali Beren. And my young nephews, Ashwin, who's 14 years old, and Arish, who's 11 years old.

16:14Gaurav:They were in Nepal specifically for a spiritual pilgrimage for Mount Kailash. And they were, you know, looking to cross over to the other side that day, I believe. and then, you know, do two sort of smaller expeditions before they actually started the pilgrimage and the actual Mount Kailash. So the last we heard of them was we had a phone call and that was at 6.47am Nepal time on the 26th of August. And they were just saying that, you know, they're getting ready to go and have breakfast. And they'd shown us just, you know, the location. There was a video call, what it looked like outside and how forceful the river was.

16:56Gaurav:And yeah, that was it. And we didn't hear from them since then. And it's now been eight days, almost nine. In the moments after the flood, I imagine you spent a huge amount of time trying to get in contact with them. It was late in the middle of the night for us and I'd woken up and then I'd looked at my phone and there were just these messages from my other sister. And we just said, oh, they're missing, they're missing Vaishi. and there were so many missed calls and I was like trying to gather my thoughts. So I essentially didn't know what to do and I got up, then I called her and then I was like, what do you mean?

17:35Gaurav:It was as it would be for anyone. Just I can't even describe in words that feeling. Just couldn't even imagine that it was happening, to be honest. I still can't believe that it's happening. we we tried to contact them I messaged all of them they were part of a group that went together from Sydney so there were 14 of them who are traveling together so I know very closely other members who are traveling with them as well so I was just calling all of them messaging them you know we just want to know that you're safe please please reach back to you know to us yeah helpless I guess that's the only thing we meant each of these days just keeps running into the other you know we wake up and we barely sleep first of all it's sleepless nights and then you wake up and it's another day and then all of a sudden I've been you know on my phone doing my own searches looking at the location what it looked like before what it looked like after and the days just slip into the nights and then we're already here.

18:44Gaurav:So it's so hard for me to even recall last week and exactly what we did. But in terms of support, we have an incredibly supportive family here. And, you know, we're all just doing our best to try and support this search effort and, you know, find our family, bring them home. The most that I can do right now, and that's my focus, is to, you know, keep the awareness there and keep asking that, you know, the search continues because we can't give up on them. Thank you so much, Vaishnavi. And I'd like to bring in Sandy. You've been searching desperately for news of your beloved niece, Priyanka, who I know is like a daughter to you.

19:26Gaurav:When is the last time you heard from her?

19:28Sakil:I spoke to her on 22nd when she was at Mount Kailash. And she had called me. She made a video call and she was so happy. She was brimming with joy. She was glowing. that was the happiest I've ever seen her.

19:43Gaurav:Where is the best place for you to be? Is it to stay in India to get information or would it be to try to go to Nepal itself?

19:51Sakil:My nephew and a couple of other family members, they have returned today from Nepal. They were there for the last five days. They went up to Trishuli River, the town also, Trishuli town. And it was entire areas devastated. You don't see any human being there. The only people you see are people who are trying to rescue. The government is doing very good. The emergency response teams are doing this job. It takes a lot of efforts to be in this kind of situation where you don't find anyone alive. I'm sorry to say, but whatever the bodies are being recovered, they are in pieces. Like very few of the bodies are recognizable.

20:33Sakil:So even for the response teams, that's a very tough job. We can't even imagine when they see so many dead people daily. It's not an easy job.

20:47Gaurav:Looking at the damage that happened and looking at the work that the Nepalese authorities and the emergency response team have been doing out there, it's absolutely incredible, in my opinion. The terrain over there is so dangerous and unpredictable as well. and I know that they've been working tirelessly, going back and forth, rescuing people. And you hear those miracles as well where they've rescued a one and a half month old baby or that six year old girl. And to me, that's incredible. You know, I've been in contact with the Australian authorities also on this side and I am appreciative of both in what they've been doing to date.

21:24Gaurav:But I think for me, beyond that is that I think more can still be done. I don't believe that we can be happy with just this much. I think as long as there are people who are missing, we believe that every option available should really be explored. And, you know, for me, I just want the search to intensify because my family, I have hope and I want them to be found. And it's already been eight days. So I don't know what situation they're in, but we need to rescue them so that we can bring them home safely. Sandeep, a question to you and also to Vaishnavi. Amid the search, is there a part of you that has to be ready for the possibility or perhaps the probability that, Sandeep, in your case, your niece might not be found alive?

22:16Sakil:See, the area where she was, that is all flattened. The debris are 35 feet high. That small township of maybe 2 ,000 people, that's all gone. There's nothing left there. I would like to see her again. That's the wish I have. But chances of survival in that area are very remote because there's nothing left there.

22:41Gaurav:For me and my family, so far we don't have any answers yet. and while we are still searching for them, we will hold on to hope. We know where they were last known to be. We know that the most recent reports are suggesting that those areas are still difficult to access, but people are there now accessing those areas. I think specialist assistance may be needed and to search more of the surrounding areas. But until we know what happened, we're going to continue to hope and, you know, just ask for every reasonable search effort to continue. We truly believe that targeted specialist search and rescue needs to be undertaken.