22 August, Kathmandu. Lalit Lamichhane was working at Rasuwa Customs Office in Timure on the day of the flood. He got up at 7 in the morning and reached the office at 7:30 to finish the rest of the previous day's work.
"I was preparing a letter and signing it to Rajendra Dhungana sir and emailing it in the name of the relevant party and the bank," he said, "suddenly there was a sound like a power transformer breaking, like a helicopter crash."
After hearing that voice, Lalit looked out of the window. I thought an earthquake had come. Looking outside, the electric wires were shaking. Our building was shaking. I got down from the top because I was afraid that there was an earthquake," he said.
After going down, he saw the seven-storey new building built by the Chinese government for the purpose of Rasuwa Customs Office. "I saw the flow of the river and waves above the seven-story building," he said, "while watching, the building was swept away by the flood."
After the building collapsed, all the employees in the office started running away. Lalit also ran away and went towards the hill. But 15 other employees working with him remained uncontacted. In which only one body was found.
Even now he is looking for a friend without contact. I am in the pain of losing my friend. I got sick after that incident. Now I am slowly getting better mentally," he said.
Office hours were from 9 am. But because the work load in the customs office is high, some employees went to the office in the morning to do the work of the branch. But the employees who are not in contact now did not come to the office.
They were at home or in their quarters. When they were preparing to come to the office, they were lost in contact due to the flood," he said.
According to Lalit, there were 40 employees at Rasuwa Customs Office. Out of them, we managed to save 25 lives. The remaining 15 people are out of touch," he said. "Only the body of Nahkul Sharma sir was found."
The Timure Customs Office is about three kilometers away from the fort on the China-Nepal border. "The most damaged place in a distance of three kilometers is the fort," he said, "There was no notification."
After that, at a distance of about one and a half kilometers from here, there is Ghate river. "There is nothing left now," said Lalit.
Compared to Ghate Khola and Gadhi, Timure is a bit open place. There was a big market. There were about one and a half to two hundred houses. But there is no definite data.
As it was a big market, it was a place for business transactions. As it was the customs office, all the offices including the police station, security agency office, quarantine office were located there. As there is such a large open space, we did not imagine that such a situation would occur," he said.
According to Lalit, the market was about 80 meters above Bhotekoshi. As it was an open space, the office was about 200 meters above the river when looking at the slope. But that place was washed away.
We narrowly escaped the flood and reached the top. The physical structures there were destroyed in an instant," he said. "Now there are only three houses left. One is our office head's quarters. That too has been completely damaged. The building did not collapse. But it is damaged.
Another was the staff quarters. We still hope that there are some of our friends from that building," he said. "Our Anita Puri Ma'am used to live on the ground floor of that building. They had a separate kitchen. We used to eat at the hotel. They used to run the mess together with three or four friends. The person who works in the mess kitchen is alive now.
The employees suspect that the employees in that building were covered in mud. The two floors there are completely filled with ledo. Whether they are alive or dead under the bed or covered by some structure.
Since Timure is a commercial center and bordering two countries, there were tourists going to Mansarovar. There was a huge crowd of tourists that day. As it is in Janaipurni, it is the peak season for Mansarovar Yatra. Especially at that time there are a lot of tourists.
Immigration to China opens at 10 am. There is a difference of about two hours between our time and China's time. That's why there is a rush of people after the immigration opens there," he said.
According to the data, 81 people have passed through Nepal's immigration till 8:37 am on the 10th. Immigration opens at 8 am. Since the work load is high, the work starts early in the morning," Lalit said. "The distance between Timure and the immigration office is also about one and a half kilometers. There are many holes in between. As you go from Timure to Gadhi, the area descends further. Even going from the fort to Ghate river, it is downhill.
He said that the immigration staff who were on duty till 8:37 am were also flooded. In the area where the Timure immigration office is located, there are two good hotels, namely Kailash Hotel and Sonam Hotel, which have more tourists.
Those hotels were full of tourists. Later I made several attempts to contact the hotel's creditor. Yesterday also I tried to call Sahuji of Sonam Hotel. He could not be contacted. I tried to ask about his condition, but could not be contacted, he said.
After the flood, Lalit tried to call the then Chief District Officer of Rasuwa. His phone did not answer. After that, I called the Assistant Chief District Officer at 9:13 in the morning and informed him," he said. "After that, this news reached the central agency. The Ministry of Home Affairs sent a helicopter of the Nepali Army to rescue the injured comrades who were there. Some friends were rescued on the 10th.
How many people went and sat in the cowshed which was one kilometer above. The next day, the helicopter of the Nepalese army took many of them to Trishuli and left them. But he managed to come to Kathmandu by riding the helicopter sent by the government at around 2 o'clock on the same day.
There were still two to three hundred people up there. All those people were rescued the next day on the 11th," he said.
Lalit went to Timure again to look for his lost friend. "I went to search to see if they are safe or if the bodies can be retrieved," he said, "but they have not been found yet."
According to him, there were about 60 container vehicles that passed the inspection the previous day in that area. Also, there were more than 200 container vehicles in the customs area. "There were containers carrying both types of goods that passed the customs check and those that did not," he said.
There were more than 400 new electric vehicles in the Timure market and customs area from Ghate Khola through Garhi. "Some of them were vehicles that had already been checked by customs, some were in the process and some had arrived only a day or two ago," he said.
Importers rented land and parked vehicles in Ghate river and market area. "Now there is no vehicle or structure left among them," said Lalit, "It is not possible to estimate the amount of physical damage." More than 400 new electric vehicles, more than 200 containers carrying goods, more than 150 houses in Timure market have all been heavily damaged.
It has come to his knowledge that there are about 130 children in the school in Timure Bazar. According to the 2078 census, the population of Timure was around 550. "There is no accurate data on how many people managed to survive," he said.
Lalit is asking the government to search for his friend who is still not in touch. The government is doing it. But the family is hoping that the friends are still there in the building where they used to live. If that building was dug up and looked at once, the family would have peace of mind. Therefore, I request that arrangements be made to dig and search that building as soon as possible," he said.
Details of non-contact employees
Bhim Bahadur Lama Bishnu Prasad Bhusal Dinesh Kumar Ghimire Anita Puri Hari Bahadur Khadka Rajendra Kumar Sonkar Bimal Tripathi Govidra Bahadur Adhikari Naresh Dutt Joshi Prem Sedayin Raju Oli Vikas Tamang Ram Bahadur Nepali Sunil Gurung Nahkul Sharma body found.
Online Khabar Correspondent Gautam writes news on education and social issues.
