As thousands remain missing in Nepal five days after a devastating flood, Nepalese community members in North Texas remain hopeful to hear from missing friends and relatives.
Shraddha Shrestha, president of the Nepalese American Chamber of Commerce in Irving, said everyone with ties to Nepal has been impacted.
“The anxiousness, the waiting period has been tough for all the people who are far away from home and especially for people who have lost their loved ones,” Shrestha said. “But there is still this hope that they are safe somewhere around and waiting for the rescue to happen.”
Shrestha, who grew up in Nepal, has been living in North Texas for about a decade. The region is home to more than 20,000 Nepalese nationals. She said the Nepalese community has been growing in recent years and is one of the largest in Texas – with people choosing to start a business here and raise their families.
While she’s heard from her parents and a sibling who live in Nepal, not everyone has been able to get in contact with family members.
“With the bigger community of Nepal with so many people missing, it still feels like losing part of the family,” she said. “I think everybody is mourning through this disaster and everybody is mourning through the death counts, which have been rising each day.”
The death toll is now at more than 900, with about 4,700 people still unaccounted for.
Among the missing are Deepak and Madhu Ahuja of Plano. Their daughter Shreya Ahuja told NPR this weekend her parents had finished the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash for her father’s 60th birthday.
“I tried texting them; I tried calling them,” Ahuja told Morning Edition.” And initially I wasn’t too concerned. I feel like everyone thinks, what are the chances that they were in that exact spot.”
A sense of unity
Shrestha said she’s been receiving calls from colleagues, businesses and people outside of the Nepalese community wanting to help – and has encouraged people to donate to the prime minister’s disaster relief fund to help get aid to workers on the ground.
“We all are together in this and we all have each other's back at this very, very sad moment,” Shrestha said.
On Sunday, people gathered at the International Nepali Church for service, which takes place every weekend at the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Irving. The church serves about a 100 people, and caters to the Nepalese community, with service in Nepali language.
Church leader and founder Kris Kaphle told KERA this Sunday was different – some members lost family in the flood.
He said a friend whose family lives by the Trishuli River – which quickly flooded after a glacier near Nepal’s border with China collapsed -- is missing more than 60 family members.
“This sorrow, this sadness is everywhere," Kaphle said. “The whole country, the DFW community in this church, in this area, all over.”
He said in his sermon he was trying to “encourage people, lift them up.”
“There is a hope, there is support,” Kaphle said. “There are people standing by and not just our community. Lots of other nations are standing with us, and they are willing to provide the help.”
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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