A Columbus-area Bhutanese Nepali organization is leading a nationwide fundraising effort to help communities thousands of miles away recover from catastrophic flooding in Nepal.
The Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio has raised about $59,000 toward a $100,000 goal to support relief efforts after an Aug. 26 glacier collapse triggered massive flooding in Nepal and neighboring Tibet.
At least 1,050 people have died in Nepal and about 4,000 remain missing as rescue efforts continue, according to Reuters.
The disaster has hit close to home for central Ohio's large Bhutanese Nepali community and the broader Columbus area. Two former Ohio State University faculty members, H. Rao Unnava and Vasu Unnava, remain unaccounted for.
"We're thousands of miles
away, but we're very, very deeply connected with that land," BCCO Executive Director Sudarshan Pyakurel said.
Why Columbus' Bhutanese Nepali community is raising money for Nepal
Central Ohio is home to an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 Bhutanese Nepalis, Pyakurel said.
After news of the flooding emerged, Pyakurel said Bhutanese community organizations across the United States began discussing how they could respond. BCCO was asked to lead a fundraising campaign because of the size of the community in central Ohio.
The GoFundMe has a $100,000 goal, with money intended to support relief efforts in Nepal.
For many Bhutanese Nepalis in Columbus, the connection to Nepal stretches back generations.
Pyakurel said the ancestors of many community members left Nepal for Bhutan in the late 1800s. Beginning in the 1990s, tens of thousands of Bhutanese of Nepali origin were forced from Bhutan, with many spending years in refugee camps in Nepal before eventually resettling in countries including the United States.
Many like himself, Pyakurel said, spent about 20 years living in a refugee camp in Nepal before coming to the United States.
"That's deeply sort of a memory that we cannot just let go," Pyakurel said. "Nepal allowed us to stay there for over 20 years and then helped resettle. And if there was no Nepal, we would not have been where we are today."
That history, he said, makes helping communities there particularly important.
What happened in the Nepal floods?
The disaster began Aug. 26 when part of a glacier high in the Himalayas collapsed, sending a torrent of ice, rock, mud and debris through river valleys near Nepal's border with Tibet.
The flood swept through villages and damaged roads, bridges and hydropower facilities. Rescue operations have continued for days as crews work to reach remote areas and thousands of people remain missing.
Pyakurel said the images coming out of Nepal initially left local community members stunned.
"For 24 hours, or for a day, we were almost frozen, like, what to do and what not to do," he said.
That shock eventually turned into a desire to act.
"Slowly we began to say, 'It's time for us to take action. We need to help,'" Pyakurel said.
Pyakurel said BCCO has not confirmed that any local Bhutanese Nepali families lost relatives in the disaster. Some community members had relatives traveling on pilgrimages who became stranded, he said, and the organization has heard unconfirmed reports that a community member could be among those missing.
Beyond immediate relief, Pyakurel said the disaster has also raised concerns within the community about the future of Himalayan glaciers and the risks posed to countries such as Nepal as the climate warms.
Scientists have warned that Himalayan communities face increasing risks from glacial floods as rising temperatures accelerate glacier melt and instability.
For Pyakurel, the scale of the latest disaster underscores the need for better monitoring, early-warning systems and investment in protecting vulnerable communities.
But for now, he said, the focus for Columbus' Bhutanese Nepali community is helping however it can from thousands of miles away.
Trending reporter Amani Bayo can be reached at abayo@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Bhutanese community raises money after deadly Nepal floods
