Nepal floods: After days of despair, a mother finally reunites with her sons

The Nepal flash floods have claimed more than 620 lives, with many still missing as rescue operations continue. Amid the heartbreaking scenes emerging from the flood-hit areas, the reunion of a mother with her two sons has brought a rare moment of hope.

On Wednesday (August 26), when the flash floods swept through Nepal’s Rasuwa district, Matti Maya Tamang was at home weaving when she heard a sound that felt like an earthquake.

Desperate search

At that time, Tamang did not know that a glacier near Langtang Lirung had collapsed. As the wall of ice, rock and water crashed into the valley below, she she saw everything around her being swept away and feared the worst. “I could see everything being swept away. I thought my children were getting swept away, too,” she told Reuters.

Also read: Nepal flash flood: Survivors recount terrifying escapes in Rasuwa

Her eight-year-old son, Zoyal Ghale, and his younger brother were believed to be among those missing after the flood hit the area around their school.

For days, Tamang went from one shelter to another and checked collection centres and missing-person lists, hoping to find her sons. But at every place, their names were missing. She eventually found her younger son alive. But Zoyal was still nowhere to be found.

That one phone call

But Lady Luck was kind to her. At a small hospital in neighbouring Nuwakot, an eight-year-old boy had been found. He had a broken leg and scratches on his face and was unable to tell those around him who his family was. When rescuers found him, he was clutching two 10-rupee notes given to him by police officers who had rescued him and persuaded him to go to hospital.

The boy was eventually identified as Zoyal.

Also read: ‘Like a miracle’: Nepal house stands firm as raging floodwaters sweep away other buildings

He told those who found him that he had run from his school into a forest with a friend and climbed a tree to escape the floodwaters. When asked if he had been scared, he simply shook his head.

How was Zoyal found?

A Reuters journalist who met Zoyal at the hospital agreed to help locate his family. She left her phone number with the hospital, and Tamang managed to contact her a few hours later.

When she was told that her son was alive and had been taken to Kathmandu for treatment, Tamang could hardly believe her ears.

By Friday, she was finally reunited with Zoyal at a hospital in Kathmandu, around two hours from their home. His father, a construction worker in Japan, was also on his way to meet them.

And when Tamang finally saw her son, her reaction was not one of anger or fear, but recognition. “Oh, he is always a mischievous kid,” she said. “This is not his first broken bone.”

The reunion comes as the scale of the disaster continues to unfold. UNICEF said more than 17,000 children have been affected by the floods across Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading alone.