Suchit cannot bear to look at the photo of his missing daughter

Suchit Joshi cannot bring himself to look at a photograph of his seven-year-old daughter, Sumansingh. Four members of his family disappeared when a huge flood struck Syabrubesi on August 26.

Joshi was helping enroll undergraduate students at Tribhuvan Trishuli Multiple Campus when an older relative called to warn him. At first, he assumed it was another flood like those he had seen before. Then he heard the roar and saw the water surging toward the campus.

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A huge flood has come. Syabrubesi is about to be swept away.

“The flood is here. Run, run!” he shouted before fleeing on his motorcycle. He saw his brother escape on a scooter and assumed the rest of the family had reached safety. They had not. His wife, Manju Shrestha, his daughter, his brother’s wife and his brother’s son remain missing.

Joshi has searched through the flooded areas repeatedly, from early morning until late at night. At one point, he tried to enter the Trishuli River himself, but police officers and friends stopped him. His brother’s infant survived after the baby’s mother carried the child to safety.

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The flood is here. Run, run!

The search also became a rescue effort. Joshi found his nephew and uncle, Ram Joshi, and helped rescue other people. Five people joined him, and together they saved an elderly woman stranded in floodwater outside her home.

But each rescue brought back the same question about his own family. “I feel like my mind has gone blank. I search everywhere, but I can’t find them,” Joshi said.

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I feel like my mind has gone blank. I search everywhere, but I can’t find them.