A photographer sat on a hill above the river. His name is Suman Nepali, and he works for the Nepali Times. He looked at two children. Kirti Tamang is five years old. The flood took her mother and her sister. Since that day, Kirti cannot speak. The other child was a boy from her school, Biswas Tamang. His school card was still around his neck, and the card helped his teachers find his mother. The photographer did not take a photo. He wrote that a photo was not respectful. He could only watch.
Ice, rock and mud came down at the China-Nepal border on 26 August. Thirteen days later, Nepal lowered its flags. Monday was the last day of mourning. Some families had a funeral without a body, because their relative is still missing. In the evening, people lit candles. At least 1,398 people are dead. More than 5,500 people are missing, and about 800 of them are foreigners.
There was no state ceremony. Phanindra Paudel, from the emergency centre, said there were no state programmes because the rescue work continued. President Ram Chandra Paudel went to the flooded districts and looked at the damage.
But there was also good news. On Friday, nine days after the flood, rescuers found two men about 170 metres inside a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A power station in Rasuwa. First they heard voices. Home Minister Sudan Gurung gave their names: Sanjay Shah, 30, and Kabir Maharjan, 45. One man came out on a rescuer’s shoulder, and he was full of mud. Both men were well, and a helicopter took them to a hospital in Kathmandu.
Then the army found a third man. Lu Haitao came out of a tunnel of 225 metres at the Upper Trishuli-1 power station, ten days after the ice came down. He had no visible injuries, but he was cold. A doctor helped him inside a helicopter.
About 900 workers are missing at 12 power stations, and about 500 of them are maybe in the tunnels. The rescuers still hope, because there is air in many tunnels.
Families are angry. In Kathmandu they came to the prime minister’s office and asked for a faster search. Reena’s brother is missing. She said they have a lot of hope, but they see no result. “We need the result.”
In Hong Kong, in Yau Ma Tei, hundreds of Nepali people lit candles and put flowers in a hall on Monday.