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<\/p>\nA Vancouver man on an expedition to Mount Kailash in Tibet said he and his team passed through the Nepal-Tibet border area hours before catastrophic flash flooding on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Darren Jacklin was travelling with an expedition team preparing for a three-day pilgrimage around Mount Kailash.<\/p>\n
About 24 hours before the flooding, their bus was travelling along a muddy road toward the Nepal-Tibet border when a mudslide blocked the route.<\/p>\n
The group was forced to stop and eventually walk to the border crossing, where members spent several hours waiting to clear immigration.<\/p>\n
During that time, Jacklin said they spoke with local residents, guides, porters and other travellers.<\/p>\n
Jacklin said members of the expedition team were later preparing for bed when their local guides and porters began receiving calls and messages from family members.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen their phones started blowing up,\u201d Jacklin said. \u201cFamily members being displaced, being unaccounted for, some fatalities and stuff like that. And then it got really real, really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacklin said the team later learned some of the people they had spoken with at the border crossing were among those killed or still unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that just guts us deeply,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jacklin said the Nepal-Tibet border crossing is a busy area, with many pedestrians and transport trucks passing through. He said the surrounding mountains and buildings left people with few places to escape.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just devastating, shock, fear, sadness, uncertainty and a lot of grief,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jacklin said the expedition team had prepared for a range of possible scenarios before the trip but could not have predicted a natural disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a major natural disaster,\u201d Jacklin said, adding the effects will be felt in the quality of life of people who have lost homes, access to clean water and their livelihoods.<\/p>\n
With roads damaged and transportation routes disrupted, Jacklin said the team does not yet know how it will get home.<\/p>\n
However, he said returning home is not the group\u2019s biggest concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to help. We want to serve. We want to make a difference,\u201d Jacklin said.<\/p>\n
Jacklin encouraged people to pay attention to the scale of the disaster and support humanitarian relief efforts for affected communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that are hurting right now,\u201d Jacklin said. \u201cAs a community, we have to come together as a global village to make a difference because we\u2019re in this together and it can happen anywhere, a natural disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dilip Chand, owner of Bay Leaf Indian Fusion, has a personal connection to Nepal, where he and his family are from.<\/p>\n
Bay Leaf Indian Fusion will match donations for people and communities affected by the disaster dollar for dollar, up to $5,000.<\/p>\n
Donations can be made at Bay Leaf Indian Fusion locations in Cranbrook, Fernie and Creston.<\/p>\n
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