Authorities in Nepal continued mass burials after catastrophic floods roared down high mountain valleys in a vast torrent of destruction. The death toll is now over 1,000 people, with thousands still missing. Across the border in China, which has been less transparent, officials report just 16 deaths, but nearly 550 missing. Neil Connery of ITV News reports from the disaster zone.
Amna Nawaz:
Authorities in Nepal continued mass burials today, nearly one week after catastrophic floods wore down high mountain valleys in a vast torrent of destruction. The death toll is now over 1,000, with thousands of people still missing.
Across the border in China, which has been less transparent, officials report just 16 deaths, but nearly 550 people missing.
Neil Connery from our partners at ITV News reports now from the disaster zone in Nepal following a man on a grim search.
Neil Connery:
In a remote village, three generations of one family grieve together, struggling to make sense of this disaster, four of their number missing, feared dead. Pramod Poudel in the baseball cap came from Britain, where he lives, to be with his father, the only surviving member of his immediate family.
This is Pramod’s mother, brother, and uncle. And this is his wife, Sumitra (ph). They married two months ago.
Pramod Poudel, Family Member of Victims: Born and raised, to live. As you can see, there’s nothing. Nothing exists.
Neil Connery:
This was the scene which confronted Pramod when he came back to his childhood home.
Pramod Poudel:
It was beautiful village. There was lots of greenery, the childhood memory when I used to go to school and when I grew up. My friends, my family, it’s all been taken away.
Neil Connery:
As he walked through the destruction in a nearby town, he talks of his wife.
Pramod Poudel:
She was living in Croatia before. She had a very good job. And I asked her to come here and marry me. And now she’s gone, you know? So, yes, it’s very, very sad, yes.
Neil Connery:
Let me ask you about your mother. What type of person was she?
Pramod Poudel:
Oh, my God.
Neil Connery:
What of his father, who survived?
Pramod Poudel:
He lost his all — whole life earning. He lost his family. He lost his friend. He lost his neighborhood. He lost everything.
Neil Connery:
Pramod is heading to the rescue center to see if he can get closer to his village to search for any of his missing family. We watched as he asked the army if he could board one of the helicopter flights. He wasn’t successful today, but will return.
Back up in the village where Pramod is staying with his uncle, high above the destruction, his father is still traumatized by what he witnessed.
Purusottam Poudel, Family Member of Victims (through interpreter): I heard the flood warnings and tried to call my family. But I couldn’t get through. I jumped on my motorbike to try and warn everyone. I saw the wave in the distance and ran up the hill. I survived by seconds.
Neil Connery:
He says his son is now his only reason to live.
Purusottam Poudel (through interpreter):
I’m so happy to have him. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably be dead. I stayed alive for him.
Neil Connery:
Pramod and his uncle walked eight hours through this valley to rescue his father on Saturday.
Prakash Pyakurel, Family Member of Victims: He just suddenly saw his son and he was hugging him with a big cry. So that was a kind of emotional moment. I think it’s — you cannot describe in words.
Neil Connery:
Beneath the Himalayas, the shadow which has descended has touched so many families like Pramod’s. Lost in his memories, the rescue helicopters above bring Pramod back to the president, a brief smile, grateful to be at his father’s side to grieve together.
Neil Connery, ITV News, Nepal.
