It has been almost a week since the catastrophic floods in Nepal and not even a vehicle can get into the area where the majority of missing Australians were last heard from. Gyirong Port, the border area between Nepal and China, was the first to be hit. Images from Chinese rescue teams who have managed to get in by helicopter or hiking show the area has been completely flattened.
The immigration building, the power lines, everything, just wiped away. News that phone connectivity to the area was back on spread quickly on Monday around the families of lost Australians who have come to Kathmandu to wait. In WhatsApp groups and over Facebook, they shared any updates they got.
One family member, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian she had been trying to ring her husband all morning after she heard the phone line was back up. The total number of Australians missing in the disaster rose to 43 on Monday, and at least 33 of them were understood to be near Gyirong Port just before the impact. The 15 Australians with the Himalaya Glacier Company, 11 travelling with the Isha Foundation, six from Kailash Journeys and one from Kathmandu Holiday Tours and Travel were all near the border – many of them arrived at the immigration building just 10 minutes before the flood hit.
Sujan Wasti, the head of Kailash Journeys’ Nepal operations, said the last he heard from the group was at 7.30 am, when the guide touched base to say they were coming back. They were scheduled to land in Kathmandu on Thursday, with many of them flying home from the capital. They have twice flown over the border by helicopter, and have visited local hospitals to see if anyone has shown up.
If they are alive, it will be a miracle.” China is coordinating the search and rescue effort in the area. As of Monday morning, crews reopening the highway towards the port on the Tibet side had 1.15km left of road to clear and reconstruct. Since Friday, no one except rescue crews has been able to access the area – some have hiked for 10 hours to get in, before rappelling down into the valley.
Others, when the weather allowed, were helicoptered in. Akhilesh Surjan, a humanitarian, emergency and disaster management expert at Charles Darwin University, said one of “the sensitive questions” has become how far everyone keeps the hope alive. In Japan after the 2011 earthquake, two people were found alive after nine days.
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