The owners of a Merseyside restaurant have been left "devastated" after a dozen family members died in the floods in Nepal. On Wednesday, flash floods devastated the south Asian country, with hundreds of people killed and thousands more missing, leaving relatives around the world in mourning.
At around 8.30am local time, a 60-hectare section of glacier in northern central Nepal came away from a cliff, sending millions of tons of ice and debris more than 1,000 metres into the valley. The resulting floods have wreaked devastation for days. At the time of publication, 584 people had died as a result of the disaster.
Restaurant owners receive heartbreaking news
Among those in mourning are Neha Shrestha and her husband, Jigmi Tamang, who own the Nepalese restaurant Ziva Kitchen and Bar in Southport. They received a devastating phone call in the aftermath of the disaster.
Neha, 32, told the ECHO: "I woke up to this news that the flood had affected my husband's village, Syabrubesi, everything had been destroyed. Our near ones, our loved family members, everything, the whole town has been swiped away."
"At first I thought it was an earthquake because we are so used to earthquakes, I didn't know the depth of the loss. Then the next thing I did was scroll through Facebook, then I saw the devastating news, and there were before and after pictures of Syabrubesi, and I couldn't process what it was like."
Twelve family members confirmed dead
After waiting and wondering how her husband's family had been affected, their fears were confirmed when they received a call from his brother, who confirmed that 12 family members had died. Neha said: "They informed us that there's no Syabrubesi anymore, and hundreds of people were missing, hundreds dead, and that there's not even the possibility to find the dead bodies, everything is just mud."
"They said that they can't even put into words what they saw. They explained that it was exactly like the movie 2012. They couldn't process it. Within a minute or two, everything was swept away."
Her own family, currently living in Kathmandu, where Neha is from, are safe. In a conversation that will now carry extra poignance for the rest of their lives, Neha remembers the last time she and her husband spoke with his family. She said: "We had a video call with them two weeks ago. Everything was fine, everyone was happy."
Restaurant closed until further notice
"Our Chinese New Year is in January or February. We were planning that everyone, all the children who, like us are abroad, would get together and meet up in the Chinese New Year, because that's what we celebrate as a New Year for our family. But it is just a sad reality that no one will be there."
Neha added: "I'm lost for words. We feel devastated. We can't process what happened. All I can say is we are devastated, we are heartbroken."
Ziva Kitchen and Bar in Southport remains closed until further notice amid the disaster in Nepal.
