JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than 1,000 people are dead and thousands more are missing in Nepal as the country struggles to recover from catastrophic flooding that has swallowed towns and erased entire villages.
For one Jacksonville woman with deep roots in Nepal, the disaster is personal.
Radha Weeder, who grew up in the village of Nuwakot, Nepal, says her family was among the survivors. She is hosting a fundraiser Tuesday evening and plans to travel to Nepal within days to help with relief efforts.
‘It doesn’t look real’
Weeder talked about the uphill battle Nepal and its people are facing.
“It’s insane. It feels unreal. It looks like a movie clip that you go, oh my God, what great special effects. You know, because it doesn’t look real,” Weeder said.
The flooding struck Aug. 26, leaving communities without power, internet or basic necessities.
“We were panicking and trying to reach our parents, and because there was no electricity or the internet, we couldn’t reach them. So this happened on a Wednesday on the 26th. The first time I was able to reach my father was at 11:30 at night on Thursday,” Weeder said.
A village in crisis
Weeder described the flooding’s devastating proximity to her childhood home.
“Well, you know, we’re experiencing a lot of pain and heartache watching the people suffer in Nepal, where we’re from, and knowing that the flooding was so close. It was 2/10 of a mile from my parents’ house,” she said.
Nuwakot, and surrounding area already an impoverished area, is now struggling to provide even the most basic necessities for residents. Weeder says those who can afford to leave have relocated to the capital, Kathmandu.
“I mean, we’re lucky that they survived that in our house. Didn’t get flooded. But you can’t live in that village right now because you have no running water, so the people that can afford it, they have left and moved on to somewhere like Kathmandu,” Weeder said.
Her parents survived the flooding, as did the rest of her family — but the chaos that followed brought new dangers. Weeder recounted a violent incident involving her parents.
“Two men came into my mom and dad’s house in the bedroom and physically, literally yanked an earring out of her ear, ripping her ear, requiring stitches, and then yanking the gold chain off of my dad,” she said.
Fundraiser, relief trip in the works
Despite the turmoil, Weeder has remained in close contact with her family and is taking action. She is hosting a fundraiser Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Culhane’s Irish Pub in Atlantic Beach and plans to travel to Nepal this weekend.
“It’s a bingo fundraiser at Cole Haynes Irish Pub. The sisters have been amazing and wonderful to do that for us. And they’re donating all the proceeds of the bingo card sales, the raffle tickets, 10% of the food sales so that I have things that I can go and buy when I get there,” Weeder said.
Weeder has also set up a GiveSendGo fundraising account.
Her message to those watching from afar is simple and direct.
“I would just like to ask if you can find it in your heart. You know, the poorest people in America are rich compared to the people in Nepal. Just donate to the relief efforts that are there so that the whole country can be saved,” Weeder said.
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