KATHMANDU, Sept 12: At around 2:30 pm on Thursday, five or six people gathered in Rasuwa Chief District Officer Kamal Prasad Pandey’s office, pleading for help to find their missing relatives.
Among them was Uttam Thapa, whose brother had gone missing at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project. Thapa urged Pandey to intensify the search. Pandey, who had assumed office in Rasuwa only four days earlier, tried to reassure him that every possible effort would be made to find his brother.
Another group had come seeking information about Kishor Gauli, who worked at Prabhu Bank’s Timure branch. His brother and friends wanted to know whether he might have escaped when the flood struck before office hours. Gauli was responsible for the bank’s vault.
But Timure has been so devastated by the flood that even rescuers have been unable to reach the area. Pandey could only explain the situation and assure them that efforts were underway.
Before leaving, Gauli’s brother and friends asked Pandey a question that captured the anguish gripping the district: “His family is waiting. What message should we take back to them, sir?”
Pandey explained the situation in Timure and Rasuwagadhi and gave them his personal phone number, assuring them that he would remain available at any time.
The phone in his office continued to ring.
At around 3:30 pm, another call came in. The caller said his relative had gone missing near the Rasuwa border and angrily complained that no search had been conducted.
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Pandey responded calmly.
“The flood has swept away Timure and Rasuwagadhi so completely that even someone who has lived there for 20 years cannot say where things used to be,” he told the caller. “We are searching for your relative as much as possible. You have lost someone close to you, and I have no complaint about your anger.”
Such appeals have become routine at the chief district officer’s office.
A sense of loss hangs over the entire district. The full scale of the human toll remains unknown, but above Dhunche, there is little trace of the roads and settlements that once stood in Syabrubesi, Lingling, Timure, Ghatte Khola and Rasuwagadhi.
Roads and other structures leading toward Syafrubesi have been reduced to ruins. Authorities have yet to determine how many houses once stood in Syafrubesi Bazaar.
Devendra KC, who has worked as a driver at the Water Resources and Irrigation Development Sub-Division Office, Rasuwa for the past 11 years, said he could not even imagine how many people were missing.
“Customs agents, hotel and office workers between Syabrubesi and Timure, and truck drivers who had come to transport goods ahead of the festivals were all there. None of them are left,” KC said. “In a way, an entire generation that connected us with China has disappeared.”
According to KC, only Rasuwa residents are allowed to travel to Kerung, and many of those who had gone there are also missing.
Lajen Ghale, who drives a Nepal Red Cross Society vehicle in Rasuwa, has lost most of his friends in the flood. Although he could not give an exact figure, he estimated that around 200 drivers from Rasuwa alone were missing.
“Thirty-six drivers from Thulo Bharkhu and Sano Bharkhu alone are missing. Four are from Dhunche and 10 from Sole, Bhimali and Thare Dhunga. These are only the people I personally know,” Ghale said. “Around 80 percent of the vehicle drivers in this district are now gone.”
He said it was becoming difficult even to find people capable of operating excavators deployed for rescue operations.
It is difficult to find a family in Rasuwa untouched by grief. People from almost every village were involved in trade and business with China, and many of them are now missing.
Ghale said it was becoming increasingly difficult to find young people aged between 25 and 35 in the district. He is also worried about how trade and business will continue in Rasuwa.
The exact number of casualties remains unknown. Even local representatives who would normally help collect information are among the missing. The office of Gosainkunda Rural Municipality itself was swept away by the flood.
The municipality’s vice-chairperson and the chairpersons of wards 2 and 5 are missing. More than 100 people from the same local unit are also reported missing. However, Pandey said the number could not be confirmed until information was collected from all affected areas.
“In a way, Rasuwa is in silence,” Pandey said. “Some citizens come asking us to find their loved ones, while others come seeking relief. There are no roads to reach many places. We do not have the luxury of saying we cannot do it.”
Dhunche Bazar remains busy with people bringing and collecting relief supplies. But when relatives remain out of contact, even the relief arriving in the district feels overshadowed by uncertainty and grief.
Relief is reaching Dhunche through difficult alternative routes and by helicopter. But beyond Dhunche, as one heads toward Syabrubesi, there are no settlements in sight.
Security personnel begin preparing for search and rescue operations early each morning. Responsibilities have been assigned, and teams remain ready for the work ahead.
For now, Rasuwa remains caught between the urgency of searching for the missing and the uncertainty of knowing how much of the district has been lost.
