Hope and horror: Families in Nepal await news of missing

Kathmandu, Nepal – The walls of Kathmandu's largest hospital have become a canvas of hope and heartbreak, plastered with colorful posters bearing the smiling faces of the missing.

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Help. Please. Missing.

These photographs, displayed in English and Nepali, serve to humanize the devastating glacial collapse that occurred high in the Himalayas on Wednesday. The disaster unleashed a torrent of water, mud, and debris, leaving more than 2,000 people unaccounted for. The posters depict a range of individuals – a baby, a newly-married couple, a grandfather – among those caught in the catastrophe.

For the families of the missing, the wait for news has been agonizing. Many have gathered outside Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, their hopes rising and falling with each arriving ambulance. Sitaram Khadka is among them, searching for his 26-year-old brother, Bhupendra, who worked with a tour agency. "We’ve been running around different hospitals and even airports in Kathmandu in the hope that my brother has been rescued and brought here," Khadka said. "He has only been married for seven months. It’s very difficult."

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We’ve been running around different hospitals and even airports in Kathmandu in the hope that my brother has been rescued and brought here. He has only been married for seven months. It’s very difficult.

Many of the missing are tourists who were traveling routes to Mount Kailash, a sacred site. The search efforts have extended to identifying bodies at a local morgue, a harrowing task for families. Sanu Tamarg described the pain of having no information about her husband, Bijay, a logistics driver who had just crossed from Tibet when the floods hit. "My heart is broken, it’s been very difficult. I have no information on him. It’s been so many days. My son is also refusing to eat anything."

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My heart is broken, it’s been very difficult. I have no information on him. It’s been so many days. My son is also refusing to eat anything.