SYDNEY—As rescuers still search for bodies from the Aug. 26 avalanche in Nepal and Tibet, members of Australia’s Nepalese community gathered in Sydney to light candles and comfort one another in the wake of what may be the region’s worst-ever disaster.
The tremendous damage done by a massive wall of water that, in some places, was estimated to have been 134 metres (440 feet) high means authorities still don’t have a definitive death toll.
But Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) puts the current estimate (pdf) at 987 dead and 3,916 missing.
The Chinese Communist Party has been accused by insiders of not raising the alarm with Nepalese authorities despite having early warning of the avalanche’s approach, and of withholding the true death toll in Tibet.
The disaster has also put pressure on Beijing to halt plans to build “mega dams” in the seismically unstable region, amid fears an earthquake could trigger a similar deluge elsewhere.
Among the missing are 36 Australians, with the government sending a specialist team of drone operators to help search and rescue missions.
“At first it felt like okay, it’s a regular flood, it’s a landslide,” said Ankush Koirala, a vocational trainer, in an interview with The Epoch Times.
“But then when the news came the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and then we started hearing from people in Nepal, it was huge. Even though you’re far, you still feel for your country.”
People were coping with the shock and uncertainty by “gathering, talking to people, talking to family members.”
Meanwhile, student Miraj Bhetwal didn’t lose family members in the disaster, but the family of his closest childhood friend lost their business.
“Everything got swept away by the flood so the main source of income for the whole family is completely gone within a couple of hours,” he told The Epoch Times.
“But overall, it doesn’t matter if I know them,” he said. “As a Nepalese person, it’s a shock for everyone. Even though I don’t know them personally, I can still feel their sorrow.”
Hurstville, one of many multicultural hubs in Sydney, is home to one of the largest Nepalese communities in the country with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2021 Census recording 4,871 people with Nepalese ancestry in the area—about 15.6 percent of the suburb’s population.
The overall community is estimated at over 213,580, and has grown more than fivefold since 2014, making it one of the country’s fastest-growing migrant groups.
Isha Pandey, whose friend flew to Nepal to help find a missing family member, told The Epoch Times that although only a small part of the country was affected, the “whole nation is suffering because every part of the nation is connected with each other.
“And it’s heartbreaking to feel like this … not being able to do anything”
Most of the bodies being recovered were unrecognisable after being crushed under the force of the advancing water, she said.
“Even if the bodies are found, they are kind of hard to recognise, and people are still required to claim the body. So I hope everyone gets to [find] their family members,” Pandey said.
The organiser of the candlelit vigil, Rishi Acharya, said around 10 families from the Hurstville area were directly affected by the avalanche. “But indirectly almost everyone is impacted, so we just want to stand together, share together, and give a message that you are not alone, we are here if you need any support … come to us.
Elise Borg, mayor of the Georges River Council, spoke to the assembled crowd and later told The Epoch Times that around a quarter of all new citizens arriving in the area were from Nepal.
“Our message is that we stand with the people of Nepal. We’re thinking of you, and we’re here to support and provide any practical support that we can from Georges River. And that our hearts are with the people of Nepal and the people of Georges River who have family and connections with people in Nepal who’ve lost their livelihoods, lost their homes, or lost loved ones,” the mayor said.
As to what the future holds for Nepal, Ankush Koirala is not optimistic.
“We are an underdeveloped country, so this kind of disaster is going to make it harder for us. This took away everything. So we are back another 100 years again now, with the infrastructure … roads, buildings, everything collapsed. Even the hydropower collapsed. So it’ll take billions, millions [of dollars to fix].”
But in the meantime, Miraj Bhetwal says, “Let’s be together in grief, let’s be together in prayers, and also let’s be together in hope.”
Hailey Do, Adam Chiang, and Melanie Sun contributed to this story.
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