RASUWA, Sept 15: Gosainkunda Rural Municipality Chairman Kaisang Nurpu Tamang lost nine members of his in laws’ family and 30 colleagues in the devastating Bhotekoshi flood. Yet, amid profound personal grief, he has continued working around the clock on rescue, relief and reconstruction.
Five days after the August 26 flood, Infrastructure Development Minister Sunil Lamsal said at a Ministry of Finance programme that local governments should automatically mobilise for rescue efforts. Tamang’s experience offers a stark picture of what local representatives themselves were facing as the disaster struck.
Tamang was preparing to travel from Dhunche to the rural municipality office in Syafrubesi on August 26 when he received news of the flood at 8:55 AM. He immediately tried calling his brother in law and other relatives in Syafrubesi, but nobody answered. Calls to municipal staff and people in Timure and Syafrubesi also went unanswered. Before he could reach the office, the flood had swept away much of the settlement.
Nine members of his in-laws' family, including two brothers-in-law and their wives, his mother and father-in-law, an elder mother-in-law and a granddaughter, remain missing. Religious rituals have begun after relatives lost hope of finding them alive.
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Only two brothers in law survived, one because he had travelled to Kathmandu and another because he had gone to the cattle shed early that morning. Tamang said he has no words to console his wife, who lost almost everyone on her maternal side.
While flying with security personnel to assist rescue efforts, Tamang watched from the helicopter as entire settlements were reduced to a riverbed. The loss of relatives was compounded by the disappearance of his colleagues: the rural municipality vice chairman, ward chairpersons of wards 2 and 5, one executive member and three ward members, along with 23 municipal employees. Two family members of employees are also missing.
“Those relatives and colleagues were all my family, but today I have almost no one left,” Tamang said. “Still, I could not abandon my duty. My concern now is how to protect those who survived.”
Much of Gosainkunda wards 2 and 5 was destroyed. Around 500 houses between Timure and Syafrubesi were swept away, while 545 people across the municipality are missing. The figure could rise as authorities continue collecting information. Of 520 residents in Timure, 203 are missing, while another 147 people from Syafrubesi, Wangdi and Khambutar remain unaccounted for.
With the municipal office destroyed, Tamang has rented a small room in Dhunche to keep administrative work running. Even that temporary office has problems with water leakage. Efforts are underway to restore electricity in wards 1 and 3, while reconnecting the area to the road network remains his top priority.
He has asked the federal government to provide funeral and religious ritual expenses to families that declare their missing relatives dead. He has also called for the road from Betrabati through Dhunche and Syafrubesi to Timure to be reopened and for displaced families to be moved to safer locations before winter.
The federal government has provided Rs 20 million, but the municipality has yet to receive procedures for spending the money, making it difficult to provide relief.
Tamang said the government must urgently assess whether affected settlements remain habitable. If not, communities should be relocated to places compatible with their cultural and religious traditions. With roads cut off, relief supplies currently have to be transported by air, which becomes impossible during bad weather.
Many households have only one surviving member, he said, adding that survivors need psychological counselling, safe accommodation and income opportunities.
A large section of Rasuwa’s workforce depended on businesses and jobs near the Chinese border, which have been halted by the disaster. Local governments have suggested allowing affected people to operate businesses along the Langtang trekking route, which escaped the worst damage. Hotels and other businesses are currently restricted inside the national park area.
“The people now see the government as one government, regardless of which level it represents,” Tamang said. “We must put citizens’ lives ahead of political parties.”
