A father from southern Nepal is trekking through disaster-stricken regions to find his missing son, struggling against both the aftermath of devastating floods and systemic barriers.
In late August 2026, a series of catastrophic flash floods swept through northern Nepal, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Triggered homes, bridges, power plants, and schools. For thousands of families, the tragedy marked the beginning of a nightmare, as the swift, mud-heavy waters claimed lives and left countless individuals missing. Among the affected regions, Rasuwa district stands out as a site of particularly intense damage, where the landscape has been altered
For Talka Sada, a resident of the Saptari district in the southern Terai plains, the disaster hit home with brutal precision. His 19-year-old son, Vinod, had been working as a laborer at a hydropower plant in the Rasuwa region when the floods struck. Vinod, who belonged to the marginalized Musahar community, was one of five young men who vanished during the sudden rise of the river. Since the final conversation he had with his son the day before the floods, Sada has been locked in a harrowing race against time, driven
With limited financial resources, Sada embarked on a grueling journey from Saptari to the national capital of Kathmandu, a distance of nearly 300 kilometers. To fund this search, he borrowed money at a high interest rate, clutching the remaining cash in a dirty handkerchief as he navigated the mountainous terrain. The financial pressure is immense, as the interest on his small loan consumes his meager savings, leaving him with little room to afford basic food or shelter while he continues his search.
Upon reaching Kathmandu, Sada and his brother began a systematic but heartbreaking tour of city hospitals and morgues. The process of identifying victims has been fraught with difficulty, as many of the bodies recovered from the disaster zones are badly decomposed or dismembered. Despite registering their details at multiple police stations and military outposts, the brothers have found no trace of Vinod. The lack of visual records or clear communication from authorities has turned their search into a frustrating cycle of dead ends and unanswered questions.
As the search has pushed further toward the affected hydropower sites, Sada has expressed deep frustration with the treatment he and his brother have received from officials. Coming from the Madhesi population in the Terai region, Sada believes his family is facing systemic discrimination. He contends that his struggle to speak the Nepali language fluently, combined with his status as a member of a marginalized caste, has led authorities to ignore his pleas for information. He feels that his requests for access to mortuaries and official aid camps are being met with bureaucratic indifference.
This perceived exclusion has fueled a sense of profound betrayal within the grieving father. He describes being sent from one department to another, with no concrete assistance provided to help him identify his son or confirm his fate. The emotional toll of this perceived negligence is evident in his demeanor; one moment he clings to the hope that his son’s agility as a laborer might have allowed him to escape the floodwaters, and the next he is overwhelmed
The situation at the ground level remains chaotic as rescue operations struggle to reach all affected areas. While the Nepali government has stated that they are working to assist all survivors, the reality for families like the Sadas is one of isolation. The lack of clear communication channels has forced them to take matters into their own hands, trekking through treacherous, mud-covered roads toward the site of the hydropower project where Vinod was last seen. Every day that passes without news deepens the family's despair.
As Sada prepares to continue his search, his exhaustion is matched only returning home empty-handed looms large. The tragedy has left the father caught between a desperate hope for a miracle and the grim realization that the search for the missing may never provide the closure he needs. For now, he continues his trek into the heart of the disaster zone, fueled