“Whole towns and villages have been lost, swept away,” explained Chris Considine, honorary consul general of Nepal in B.C.
“Towns that have been there for several centuries have gone.”
The devastation from flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border has been widespread, as Nepal’s disaster authority said the death toll had climbed to 675, with 2,498 people reported missing as of 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted to social media on Saturday that one Canadian who was previously unaccounted for has been found safely. That brought the number of Canadians unaccounted for from 32 to 31.
B.C. community response
Thousands of kilometres away, the disaster has changed plans for an annual celebration for the province’s Nepali community.
Punam Dhungel, president of the Nepali Canadian Women’s Society of B.C., said the Teej festival is where Nepali women “celebrate [their] womanhood.” Community members gather together in traditional garments – saris – sharing their culture with each other.
“Lots of jewellery; traditional food; music; dance; laughter.”
She said the society expected 300 women and girls to attend, adding that the Sept. 5 event had sold out.
But as news of the disaster in Nepal broke, Dhungel said her excitement gave way to anxiety.
“Even though my immediate family [is] not there, I got goosebumps when I saw the news.”
Asmita Tripathy, secretary of the society, said the last time she saw her parents, who live in Nepal, was during COVID-19.
Her elderly parents live in an area affected by flooding along the Trishuli River, Tripathy said, and she lost contact with her family in Nepal after power and communications in the area went down due to the flooding.
Once she was able to get in touch with a friend in the area, they reported that her parents were safe, “but there are lots of dead bodies” along the riverbank.
“We can again celebrate and dance when we heal from this situation,” said Tripathy.
Dhungel says cancelling the event was a hard decision, but felt like the right thing to do. (The Nepali Canadian Women’s Society of B.C./Facebook)
Instead of going through with the Teej festival or starting a new fundraiser, Dhungel said the society decided to redirect the funds raised for the event toward Nepal relief efforts.
Dhungel said the society was able to send $15,000 to Nepal’s Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund on Saturday.
Event cancellations
Bal Sharma, president of the Nepalese Society of Vancouver Island (NSVI), said there will be a candlelight vigil next week.
The NSVI had also planned a Teej celebration for Sept. 12, but cancelled it because it is “not a good time to celebrate.”
Sharma added that 100 per cent of what the organization had planned to spend on the event will be directed to support Nepal relief efforts.
This cancellation is one of many taking place across Canada, Sharma noted. He said he’s hearing of cancellations in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton.
“Everybody’s cancelling their event to support and [to] try to focus more [on] helping the community and get some funds raised.”
He said support from Canadians and the Canadian government has “meant a lot to us.”
The Canadian government announced $5 million in humanitarian assistance funding for Nepal in response to the floods.
Considine estimated that there are roughly 5,000 people in the Nepali community across the province.
He told CBC News in an interview that the cost of rebuilding could be in the billions of dollars.
In an article from Reuters, Nepal’s finance minister, Swarnim Wagle, said preliminary reconstruction estimates are between $4 billion and $5 billion US, roughly one-tenth of the nation’s gross domestic product.