I’ve seen Nepal rise from a natural disaster. Now it must do it again

August 28, 2026 — 3:30pm

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There now seems a cruel irony to the fact that I was in Syabrubesi two years ago to witness Nepal’s ability to recover from disaster. It was May 2024 and I’d come to trek to Langtang Village almost 10 years after it was wiped from the map by a massive avalanche, killing more than 240 villagers and trekkers.

The trail to Langtang Village and the Langtang Valley begins in the ramshackle town of Syabrubesi, on the bank of the Trishuli River. The Chinese border post, captured so terrifyingly in footage from this week’s flood, is just 18 kilometres upstream. Syabrubesi sat squarely in the path of the floodwaters.

The drive to Syabrubesi, due north of Kathmandu, is notorious – eight hours, bouncing around like popcorn, to cover little more than 100 kilometres. With a trekking guide arranged through a Nepali friend in Kathmandu, I stayed the night in the New Red Panda Hotel, a cheap and colourful family guest house at Syabrubesi’s southern end. It........

© The Sydney Morning Herald