Australia has increased its humanitarian response to the Nepal-Tibet flood disaster to $8 million and sent a crisis response team of 18 people, including consular staff and the Australian Federal Police, as families of missing Australians keep searching on their own and officials continue looking for the unaccounted-for.
Who Gets Left Waiting
Sarada Viswanathan, 23, said her partner Rishab Iyer, also 23, was still missing a week after the flood. "It's been genuinely just hell for us," she told 7.30. She said the last location she had for Rishab was outside the Royal Himalaya Hotel & Lodge, and the last location for his brother was slightly up onto the highway. The Iyer family — son Rudhra, father Sreedharan, mother Lakshmi and son Rishab — had been on a Hindu Indian pilgrimage in Nepal and had not been heard from since last Wednesday.
Viswanathan said, "It's been really difficult just not having any answers and not knowing where they are, how they're doing, whether they need help, whether they're drinking water, whether they're eating. Are they injured?" She added, "It's just 24/7, we're just thinking about them, thinking about ways that we can bring them home. What can we do for them? How can we help them?" She has set up a DIY search operation at her family home in north-west Sydney, using Find My iPhone and Life360, and has started a petition to push the Australian government to send defence force personnel to help with search and rescue.
She said, "We all have them on Find My iPhone and Life360." She also said, "The last location I have of Rishab is outside that hotel. The last location we have of his brother is slightly up onto the highway." The Iyers were staying at the Royal Himalaya Hotel & Lodge, close to the river that flooded.
What People Are Doing Themselves
Other relatives of the Iyer family are already on the ground in Nepal and have been feeding back any information they can find. Viswanathan said Mr Iyer was due to start a new job next year as an intern doctor at Gosford Hospital. She said, "My search will never end." She added, "I will keep looking for him until anything is confirmed. I will never give up on him, and I know none of us will ever give up on them."
John Kurian, 23, who has been friends with Rishab since high school, said, "We played cricket together since 2018 and we've lost four grand finals together." He added, "So we've always joked around saying that we need to win another premiership. He has tried every season that he can. He's always our best player. He leads from the front verbally and with his bat and the ball." Kurian said, "I'm here because he's my brother. Rishab and Rudhra are my brothers, and Sreedharan and Lakshmi are also my mum and dad." He also said, "They are out there somewhere right now. Maybe they can't be reached … because they are stuck or the communication towers are knocked down. The least we can do is try and get more people out there to help."
Chitrak Sharma, 23, said his mother Krishna and father Umesh are still missing after the same pilgrimage disaster. He said, "They're true Australians who lived by generosity, inclusivity, and just giving back to the community." He added, "The first thing I did was I tried calling. Of course, [I got] nothing." He said he tried calling someone else he knew was with them and still could not make contact.
Sharma decided to fly to India and was south of Delhi, deciding whether to continue to Nepal. He said, "What made me take a flight here? It had been four days and no concrete news, and I figured I may have to head to Nepal very soon for any reason." He added, "So that's why I'm basically on stand-by mode here in India with the rest of my extended family." He said he had brought DNA samples and hair in case the worst was confirmed. "I've thought about it, and just for assumption's sake I have brought some DNA samples with me. I brought hair in case, but I don't want to think too much about that right now," he said. "My hope is that we find them safe and sound."
Who Holds the Levers
Australia said it continues to offer search and rescue assistance to Nepali authorities, but that offer has not been taken up. A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said, "We are working with telecommunications companies to support Nepali search, rescue and recovery efforts, and assist us in ascertaining the location of those Australians who remain unaccounted for." The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it could not provide details about the person found alive because of privacy obligations.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said, "It's hard to imagine the sense of relief their loved ones must be feeling after what will have been an incredibly harrowing few days." She added, "Despite this second piece of welcome news in recent days, we must remain realistic about the days ahead." China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Australian citizen found in Tibet was not in the "epicentre of the disaster" and had already been in contact with the Australian Embassy in China. The ministry said, "The Chinese side is currently making every effort to search for and rescue missing persons, both Chinese and foreign."
One Australian was found alive in Tibet, China, six days after catastrophic floods hit the Nepal-China border, and another Australian, Cara Severino, was safely located on the weekend, cutting the number of Australians missing to 42. The rescue effort is continuing after the "golden window" of the first 72 hours for finding a survivor, which experts say offers the best chances of survival without access to clean water.
More than 4,400 people remain missing across the affected area, and the death toll has been cited at 781 in some reports and 939 in others. Nepalese authorities have rescued 11,379 people so far, while another report said 6,633 people had been rescued, including 261 foreigners. The number of missing Australians has shifted during the unfolding disaster, with one report citing 43 missing and later reports saying 42 after Cara Severino was found.
Luke Costanzo, 30, is also among the Australians still unaccounted for. His family said he was travelling with a group that last made contact at the Gyirong Port border crossing between China and Nepal while returning to Kathmandu on the final day of a pilgrimage trek. The family said he had been in Tibet visiting Mount Kailash with the Isha Foundation. They said, "It is with heavy hearts that we share our dear son and brother, Luke Costanzo, is one of the Australians still unaccounted for in Nepal following the flooding disaster last week." They described him as "an extremely strong, compassionate, disciplined and spiritual person" and said, "Once he makes a decision he commits to it fully and he was so excited to be visiting Mount Kailash on a pilgrimage trek with the Isha Foundation."
They added, "We truly appreciate all the love and support from friends and family that we’ve received and ask everyone to keep Luke, and all those affected, in your thoughts and prayers." The family said, "We can do nothing but continue hoping for a miracle that Luke, and the others who remain missing, are found alive and well." They also encouraged donations to support rescue efforts on the ground.
The family of a Perth man missing in Nepal said they were "hoping for a miracle" as the search continued after the flood disaster. The Gyirong Port area was the first to be hit by the flood, caused by a glacial collapse that sent water and debris across the border region on August 26. The disaster has devastated dozens of communities across the Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, and damage to roads and bridges has complicated the delivery of emergency assistance.
Nepal’s government has requested emergency supplies including hygiene kits and solar lighting solutions. Australia said its additional assistance includes $2 million to provide those supplies and other humanitarian support, to be delivered by the Australian Defence Force, and the Royal Australian Air Force will transport the first of these supplies from Queensland in the coming days. The federal government also said it would provide a further $1 million to the Emergency Action Alliance appeal, bringing its contribution to $2 million, after the appeal reached $1.4 million in public donations. The government said the extraordinary scale of the disaster, conditions on the ground and the remoteness of the affected region had created immense challenges for rescue and recovery efforts. It said communities in affected areas also faced heightened risks following the floods.
Racist comments on social media have also followed the disaster, with Chitrak Sharma saying he had seen people denying the Australian identity of missing families. John Kurian said, "It's been quite disheartening to see a lot of racial comments towards the families that have gone, about 'they're not Australians'." Kurian said, "Rishab and Rudthra are as Australian as they come. They've grown up here their whole life, their education, their work, their sport, their academia, everything is here." He added, "So for anyone that's been saying those things, they need to really have a deep look and reconsider what they're saying." Sharma said he had also seen racist comments and wished they would stop.