Kaitlyn Hughes & Diva KC | editor-in-chief & layout editor

Although Dikaksha Dhital only spent three years of her life living in Nepal, the floods that hit the country Aug. 26 still hit close to home.

After seeing the country endure earthquakes and large-scale political protests, one thought came to Dhital’s mind — surprised, but not surprised.

“I think the shock factor came from how massive it was, how destructive it was and how many lives and houses it just took in a blink of an eye,” said Dhital, who is a senior health science major at Duquesne University.

The floods were caused by a glacial collapse near the border of Nepal and China that sent a flash flood and mudslide along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers, which has killed more than 1,300 people. This includes Mark Cantrell, who was a professor in the John G. Rangos, Sr. School of Health Sciences. He died in the floods and mudslides in Nepal at the age of 51.

The collapse of glacial rock and ice subsequently triggered a 5.2-magnitude tremor.

Nepal is located at the border of two large tectonic plates — the Indo-Australian and Asian plates — where collisions are frequent and lead to earthquakes, according to the University of Melbourne.

The country ranks 11th and 16th, respectively, in its vulnerability to earthquakes and combined disasters on the global scale, according to UNICEF.

“Growing up, I would hear about earthquakes and other natural disasters happening in Nepal so I just assumed it was one of those, not to diminish it … I didn’t realize how bad it was until I saw the one famous video where everything goes crashing down,” said Rakshya Kafle, a sophomore biochemistry major at Duquesne who is from Nepal.

The video Kafle is describing depicts gray mud and floodwaters shooting over a Chinese border patrol building on the border of Nepal and China. The building is then flattened by the fierce currents — along with many of those who were fleeing.

“Everytime we do make the news, it’s always something bad,” Kafle said.

Burdens of a small country

Kavya Odari, who is a junior in the business law program at Duquesne and from Nepal, said that the floods broke her heart.

“How much more can they even suffer through?” Odari asked.

There are 31.5 million people living in Nepal compared to the United States’ 342.6 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Nepal is a small country and not a lot of people know about it. … When I say I’m from Nepal, [people say] ‘Oh, where is that?’… In between China and India is what I’ve always said my entire life,” Kafle said.

Climbing temperatures lead to falling glaciers

The consensus among scientists is still open about exactly what happened to cause the amount of water that came with the flood, said Phillip Reeder, a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering and sciences at Duquesne.

They know it has to do with glacier melting in the Himalayas, which Reeder said was caused by one thing: climate change.

“Between 1880 and now, the Earth on average has warmed 1.4 degrees centigrade [Celsius],” Reeder said. “That’s enough to knock all these Earth systems out of whack and to cause all kinds of cascading effects.”

With the Earth heating up, ice around the globe is going to start melting, Reeder said. Ice sheets are shrinking in Greenland, Antarctica and in high mountain areas, such as the Himalayas. Scientists are convinced this was the catalyst of the flood, Reeder said.

While climate change also affects the U.S., Odari said other countries feel it disproportionately, so getting educated on these topics is the least people can do.

“It’s like the first-world countries are creating these problems, and then consequently the third-world countries are bearing it,” Odari said.

The glacier that collapsed in the Himalayas was about a half mile wide.

“So you can imagine, that’s an enormous amount of ice,” he said.

But the question scientists are still trying to answer is: Where did all the water come from?

The flood in Nepal isn’t the only sign of climate change, Reeder said. The Earth is seeing more hurricanes, more active thunderstorms, more tornadoes and droughts.

“We’ve got to be really cognizant that we’re the stewards of the Earth here,” Reeder said. “Think about what can you do as an individual to help preserve the planet, and that doesn’t mean you have to go to Washington, [D.C.] to hold a sign and go to a rally or a protest or whatever. A lot of it is how you live your daily life.”

Knowing and helping Nepal

The worst part about the situation for Dhital and her cousin Ristha Kafley, who goes to the University of Pittsburgh, is being in the U.S.

“We can’t be there to actively help,” she said. “Being in the healthcare field, it definitely hits harder because it’s like if we were there, we’d be a part of the search and rescue team. We’d be there helping. We’d be there doing as much as we could in our power, and being here and not being able to do that, it’s just like okay. I just have to sit and trust my people that they have each other.”

The floods come at a time when people in Nepal are about to celebrate a significant religious celebration called Haritalika Teej on Sept. 13-16.

“This happening around the festival times is just really sad because we have people that are here celebrating the festival, but our people back home are suffering,” Kafley said.

Kafle said she wants people to be aware of the culture and people of Nepal, beyond the catastrophes the country faces.

There are about 3,203 Nepali people living in Pittsburgh’s metropolitan area, according to Neilsberg.

“The culture is right next to you,” Kafle said. “Not just knowing what happened but knowing Nepal and what it is beyond that.”

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu

Diva KC can be reached at kcd@duq.edu