FRESNO, Calif. – Dozens of students, faculty and community members gathered Thursday in Fresno State’s Peace Garden to honor victims of last month’s catastrophic floods in Nepal.
The vigil included prayers, meditation, a moment of silence and a place for attendees to lay flowers in memory of the victims.
The gathering was organized by members of the Central Valley Nepali community, including Fresno State professors Mohan Dangi, Anil Shrestha and Shailesh Rana.
Dangi, a professor in the Department of Geography and City and Regional Planning, was born in Nepal and says he knows the area well.
“I've taken students and colleagues from here and Nepal to do some work over there,” he said. “And also on top of that…two of my tour guides come from that area, who are missing family members, as well as distant relatives.”
Dangi says the gathering was organized partly to raise awareness but also, more importantly, to encourage people in the Central Valley to support relief efforts there.
“People from 38 different nationalities are impacted by these recent floods in Nepal,” Dangi said. “So I think one good way is coming together and kind of spreading the word and then helping, doing whatever we can, small or large.”
Organizers encouraged donations to the Government of Nepal Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund to support efforts to help hurting families and communities.
Clovis North senior Simran Rana, whose family is from Nepal, also spoke at the vigil.
“Survivors have lost homes, jobs, belongings, and family members, electricity, communications, transportation, and businesses have been severely affected,” Rana said. “Rebuilding will take much longer than the flood itself.”
University president Saul Jimenez-Sandoval also shared words, saying the distance should not minimize the tragedy at hand.
“We are here to pray for those who are still missing, out of which about 89 are Americans,” Jimenez-Sandoval said. “We have to remember that as well. When tragedy strikes far away, the distance can feel enormous.”
The vigil comes more than a decade after Fresno State held a similar gathering in 2015, following a major earthquake in Nepal that killed nearly 9,000 people. Fresno State helped to raise money for relief at that time as well, and Dangi traveled with a team from the US and Nepal to help locals rebuild a school near the affected area.
Flash floods struck Nepal on Aug. 26 after part of a glacier collapsed in the Himalayas near a river valley. The surge of water and ice was filled with mud, rock, and debris.
So far, 1,280 people are reported to have died. Rescue efforts are still underway for the more than 4,000 others who are believed to be missing.
“The purpose of this is to bring awareness in the Central Valley of California,” Dangi said. “We deeply care about Nepal, like we did last time, and there is a greater effort to bring relief work in the mountains of Nepal after this tragic flood.”
