Nepal floods: Father borrows $13, walks for days to search for missing son - aljazeera.com

**Father’s desperate trek amid Nepal’s deadliest monsoon floods**

The monsoon season that began in late June 2024 unleashed unprecedented flash floods across Nepal’s central and eastern valleys, leaving more than 1,100 people dead and thousands injured, according to the Nepalese police. Rivers swollen by relentless rain burst their banks, sweeping away homes, schools and bridges, while landslides buried entire villages under meters of mud. The catastrophe has prompted a massive rescue operation involving the Nepalese Army, international NGOs and local volunteers, yet the scale of destruction continues to outpace relief efforts.

Among the many families shattered by the disaster, 38‑year‑old Ramesh Thapa of the Khotang district has become a poignant symbol of parental anguish. After the floodwaters ripped through his village, Ramesh learned that his 12‑year‑old son, Bikash, was missing. With no money for transport, he borrowed a meager $13 from a neighbor and set out on foot, navigating water‑logged trails, collapsed roads and makeshift rope bridges. He walked for three consecutive days, often wading through ankle‑deep currents and sleeping under tarps in temporary shelters, while calling out his son’s name and clinging to the hope that he might still be alive. “Every step felt like walking through a nightmare,” Ramesh told Al Jazeera, “but I cannot give up until I see his face again.”

Rescue agencies have deployed drones to locate bodies in inaccessible zones, recently spotting a cadaver inside a building that had been completely buried by mud—a discovery that led teams to uncover 23 more victims in the same area. While the death toll continues to rise, authorities are focusing on both recovery and prevention, distributing emergency kits, setting up temporary schools and reinforcing embankments to mitigate future flooding. The ongoing humanitarian response underscores the stark reality that, for families like Ramesh’s, the battle is not only against the water but also against the lingering uncertainty of who will return home alive.