Canadian families still waiting for answers a week after deadly flash flood in Nepal

Open this photo in gallery:People whose relatives remain missing and are presumed dead following flash floods perform symbolic last rites on the banks of the swollen Trishuli River in Nepal's Nuwakot district, Wednesday.Rajesh Kumar Singh/The Associated PressNeeral Patel sent well-wishes to her cousin on his birthday last Wednesday, but she never heard back.Her cousin Ishan Patel was in Nepal at the time, not far from the border with China, where a devastating flash flood ripped through the valley that same day.She’s calling for a wider international response to help in rescue efforts as the days tick by with no word on her cousin or the three family members he was travelling with.Open this photo in gallery:Ishan Patel, centre, poses with his wife Akanksha Patel, left, and his mother, Shilpa Patel in this undated handout photo.Neeral Patel/via The Canadian Press“We want to give a lot of hope. But with each passing day, it’s just getting chipped away, and time is of the essence,” said Patel, who lives in Toronto.Ishan Patel was travelling with his wife, Akanksha Patel, both dual Canadian-U. S. citizens, along with his mother, Shilpa Patel, and father-in-law, Umesh Patel, who are Canadian, she said.The four were on a long-planned pilgrimage to Mount Kaliash ahead of Ishan Patel starting a new job as an orthopedic surgeon, after finishing his fellowship in July, said Neeral Patel.“It was kind of the big holy beginnings to his new career.”The flooding on Aug. 26 killed more than 1,100 people and left roughly 4,400 missing, after a glacier collapsed in the Himalayan border region between Nepal and China.In Kathmandu, police have buried dozens of unidentified bodies in trenches because there are too many to keep or identify individually.The scale of the disaster is hampering rescue efforts, as landslides and destroyed roads have cut off remote areas.Rescuers were also racing to reach hundreds of hydropower workers trapped in tunnels.Hopes of finding more survivors fade a week after catastrophic Nepal floodForeign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has said 30 Canadians and permanent residents are among the missing – a number that may change as the government gets more information.With so many still unaccounted for, Neeral Patel said family members have been left scouring the internet, looking on Nepal police sites and missing identity sites to see if the names of any relatives come up. Open this photo in gallery:A man sticks photographs of his missing relative amongst the pictures of missing and deceased people pasted on wall outside Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu.Monika Malla/ReutersShe said two family members have also travelled to Kathmandu to look in hospitals and anywhere else they can find answers, but the roads up to the flood-hit area are closed.Making the wait even harder is that they know where to search, she said, because her cousin’s phone pinged from a spot a short distance from Hotel Kailash, where they had breakfast last Wednesday.“This is why we’re urging everyone to please, in the right area, search as much as you can, because we’re coming up to a week’s time and still no news,” she said.Ottawa said Monday it has 10 government officials on the ground in Nepal to support Canadians affected by the flooding and help locate the missing.Patel said Global Affairs told her family about the team being sent but they’re still holding out hope for a bigger response.“There should be a global effort, everyone work together to try to bring our family members home.”