At the Nepali Cultural & Spiritual Center in Euless, people gather every day to pray.
EULESS, Texas — Thousands of miles away from the devastation in Nepal, members of North Texas’ Nepalese community are praying for family, friends and strangers affected by catastrophic flooding.
At the Nepali Cultural & Spiritual Center in Euless, people gather every day to pray.
Now, many of those prayers are for people who lost their homes, belongings and loved ones in a matter of minutes.
This story continues below.
“They’re losing their family members, they’re losing their houses, they’re losing their assets,” said Bijaya Bhusal, president of the Nepalese Society of Texas.
Bhusal and Rajendra Wagle, the organization’s immediate past president, both have family and friends impacted by the disaster.
“Throughout the whole river region, from the mountain to town, is all wiped out,” Wagle said.
The disaster is personal for several families in North Texas.
A couple from Plano, Deepak and Madhu Ahuja, are among those missing after traveling to the region on a religious pilgrimage, according to their son, who spoke with WFAA.
“It is horrible, you know,” he said. Longtime Murphy residents Archana and Ragu are also among those missing.
The flooding has devastated communities along the Nepal-Tibet border, leaving hundreds dead and thousands of people missing.
For families watching from North Texas, the distance makes an already painful situation even more difficult.
But community members say they are doing what they can to help. The Nepalese Society of Texas has started a GoFundMe to raise money for disaster relief.
Organizers say every dollar raised will go directly to the Government of Nepal’s Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund.
“On the top of this is humanity. And so we are human, we need to support each other,” Bhusal said.
The organization says the goal is to help as people search for missing loved ones and begin rebuilding communities destroyed by the flooding.
For the Nepalese community in North Texas, the effort is about more than raising money.
It is about helping people back home—and reminding them they are not alone.