Hands folded, he stares at the devastation that the flood left behind – a striking image capturing the sheer scale of humanitarian damage caused in the deluge.
While Dahal did not lose his life, he lost the means to live it. Govind Prasad Dahal is one of the thousands of people who lost their homes and businesses in the Nepal flash floods. With just a pair of slippers in his hands, he sits in front of his damaged house. Dahal sobs after every sentence as he turns around to see the walls of his home mangled and muddied in the disaster that lasted for just a few minutes, but caused damages of a lifetime. He just ran for his life from Devighat in Nuwakot, one of the most affected areas in the Nepal flash flood. His son Kedar Dahal ran alongside him. Then, they came back to the real disaster. Instead of his house and business, there was debris. All he has left now is a burden of debt and the clothes that he was in as the flood struck.
Govind Prasad Dahal, 71, lost almost everything on August 26, when a sudden massive flood swept down the Bhote Koshi river in Rasuwa district bordering Tibet, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. The flood has swallowed his entire business, which was valued at almost of 10 crore Nepali rupees. In Indian terms, that’s almost Rs 6.3 crore. When the deluge struck, the 71-year-old did not think about the future. So far, 4,451 people have been rescued from different affected areas. The sudden deluge has left nearly 600 dead, while hundreds still remain missing. More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far, but 1,924 people remain unaccounted for in the country. The death count has increased to 579, according to the latest bulletin of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. 233 dead bodies have been recovered from Chitwan district, 154 from Nawalparasi East, 46 from Gorkha and 40 from Dhading, according to the police. Similarly, 37 dead bodies were recovered from Nuwakot, 30 from Tanahu, 27 from Nawalparasi West, and 12 from Rasuwa.
