Watch: Excavator digs out UAE Nepali expat's buried house from flood mud

Ajman: The house Paribartan Nepal, an Ajman-based chef, built brick by brick with years of savings from the UAE is now barely visible. The single-storey structure, swallowed by piles of silt and mud in the August 26 flash floods in Nepal, slightly resurfaced on Sunday, its front pillars the only sign it ever stood there.

New video and photographs shared by the 29-year-old Nepali expat with Gulf News show the extent of the destruction wrought by the deadly floods in Nuwakot district, and the desperate effort now under way to dig it back out.

On September 3, Gulf News had first reported about the single-storey house he had worked so hard to build having been buried under mud and slush during the devastating flash flood.

Paribartan, who works as a Demi Chef de Partie at a bakery and restaurant in Ajman, went home on September 7 on a month's emergency leave to be with his family.

In the new footage he shared on Sunday, an excavator can be seen clawing through thick, grey silt that buried Paribartan's home in Belkotgadhi-7, near Thulo Khola.

The front of the house had just begun to appear: its pillars first, then the outline of rooms still packed with massive piles of mud inside.

In some photographs, the partly excavated structure resembles a site pulled from an archaeological dig.

Another clip that Paribartan shared shows what was once a highway near his home, now reduced to a mud-caked track.

Neighbouring houses, including some two and three storeys tall, far larger than his own single-storey home, sit with their ground floors buried in silt. His house, being just one floor, has disappeared under the mud entirely.

“We cannot stay here even if the structure is still standing. The house was about three metres high. It got buried under sediment. There is about two metres of mud on top of the house,” Paribartan said.

Relief workers and family members spent hours digging through the silt-filled rooms, reaching as high as the ceiling fan in places, hoping to recover anything of value.

“We tried to dig into the house so there might be something safe: our locker, some piece of gold, or any other valuables. But it's totally buried under the mud. It's very hard to remove it,” Paribartan said.

Among the few items pulled from the debris were some clothes, his parents' national ID cards and a framed photograph of Paribartan standing in front of Tal Barahi Temple in Pokhara, taken during his vacation last year.

He said his photo used to hang in the hall but was instead found in a bedroom, carried there by the force of the mud.

“The rooms are not empty. They're full of mud, stones and debris. The windows are gone, the door is broken. Electronics, beds and cabinets were all destroyed. Nothing can be used except maybe some clothes.”

Search efforts stretched from morning until around 6pm on Sunday, Paribartan said, but with little left to find.

“We have given up as a family, even if the search and rescue team continues,” he said. “Let's say we are at zero level.”

With their home uninhabitable, Paribartan's parents are staying at a relative's house nearby, away from the riverbank.

“For now, I am keeping my parents at my relative's house, away from the riverside. I'm staying there too, and I'm planning to let them stay until we find another solution. I will fix something temporary for now,” he said.

He said municipal authorities had sent the excavator helping clear the site, while NGOs and volunteers from across Nepal have been distributing basic supplies such as rice, lentils, plates, glasses and utensils to affected families. Government support for temporary and permanent housing is reportedly still being planned, he said.

“It's not just my house — three districts have collapsed,” Paribartan said.

Amid the loss, Paribartan's biggest worry now is what comes next.

“My only concern is how to build a new house. We need new land, and the construction materials are very expensive now. I don't know if the government will bear all the cost. If we get some financial support, we can plan and see how to face this,” he said.

The death toll from Nepal's August 26 flash floods has climbed to 1,386, with 5,130 people still reported missing, according to the latest update from Nepal's disaster authorities on September 12.

The government has announced a monthly housing allowance for displaced families — Rs15,000 for households of up to four members, with Rs2,000 for each additional member — payable until permanent housing is rebuilt, while families who opt out of the cash grant will instead be provided temporary shelter arranged by the state until reconstruction is complete.

Authorities are also conducting a household-by-household survey across the affected districts to assess damage and housing needs, with officials saying separate temporary accommodation will be arranged for each family within a few weeks, based on their preference for either shelter or rented housing support.

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