Bhagat Lal, 68, has a son studying in Brisbane. Other relatives are missing, while their house was found washed up on the river.
The first thing is the noise – chopper blades cutting through the air as helicopters come and go from the main army response centre, at the entrance to Nepal’s flood zone.
Then, there is the smell. A putrid, iodine smell. Blood and bone. The severe heat beating down on bodies packed into white bags – being carried off helicopters and laid in an area so families can identify them.