Nepal floods: Father borrows $13, walks for days to search for missing son

What the report says

Talka Sada, a father from Nepal’s Saptari district, is spending days on foot searching flood-hit areas for his missing 19-year-old son, Vinod, after deadly flash floods swept through northern Nepal in late August. According to Al Jazeera, Vinod had been working as a labourer at a hydropower project in Rasuwa district and was last heard from before the floods, which damaged homes, roads, bridges and other infrastructure across the region.

Sada told Al Jazeera that he borrowed less than 2,000 Nepali rupees, about $13, to cover travel costs as he and his brother moved from hospitals in Kathmandu to areas nearer the disaster site, including Nuwakot and Trishuli. They have also checked mortuaries, police stations and military camps set up for rescue and recovery efforts, but say they have not found any trace of Vinod among survivors or the dead.

The report places Sada’s search in the wider context of Nepal’s flood emergency, which has left more than 1,000 people dead and many more missing, while overwhelming rescue and identification efforts. It also notes the family’s claim that they have repeatedly been turned away and their belief that ethnic and caste discrimination may be making it harder for them to get help. Al Jazeera reported that Sada belongs to the Musahar community, part of Nepal’s marginalized Madhesi population, which has long alleged discrimination from hill-based elites.