The owner of a Pasadena restaurant with ties to Nepal has desperately tried to contact friends and family following devastating floods on the country’s border with China.
Hundreds of people died and many more remain missing after a powerful torrent of water, mud and debris rampaged Wednesday along the Himalayan border. On Friday, the death toll climbed above 570 and Nepali and Chinese authorities warned of further risk of flooding from a new lake that formed upstream after the flooding.
The number of people reported missing soared to more than 1,900.
“I haven’t slept,” said Manika Panta, who works with her cousin at Himalayan Cafe in Pasadena. “It’s so heartbreaking to see all those images.”
They have tried to contact friends and family in the days after the catastrophic flooding. For the most part, their loved ones have indicated they are ok, but many are without power.
They’ve been unable to contact others.
“One of my classmates, he has been gone missing and my mother’s cousin, he has been missing, as well, and so many relatives they have been like contactless,” Panta said. “There is no electricity, no Wi-Fi, no data working, right now. Maybe that might be the reason we have been contactless with the people. But hopefully, let’s hope, let’s pray they are fine.”
They continue posting pictures of loved ones, friends and friends of friends in a search for answers.
More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far, but 1,924 people remain unaccounted for in the country. Experts have said the flooding might have been triggered by the separation of a larger glacier that tumbled down a steep slope.