By Geeta Goindi
WASHINGTON, September 4, 2026 — The U.S. House of Representatives fell silent this week for the victims of the catastrophic floods along the Nepal-Tibet border, as lawmakers paid tribute to those who died and turned their thoughts to thousands still missing – among them dozens of Indian-Americans whose families are desperately waiting for word that their loved ones are alive.
Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), led the moment of silence on the House floor Wednesday, surrounded by fellow lawmakers, including Indian-American Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA.).
“I rise today to honor the victims of the devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet,” Meng said. “The scale of destruction is heartbreaking.”
The August 26 disaster devastated communities along the mountainous border region, sweeping away homes, hotels, roads, bridges and immigration facilities and severing communications with travelers who had been making their way to and from Mount Kailash, one of Hinduism’s most sacred pilgrimage sites.
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Meng told the House that nearly 1,000 people had lost their lives and more than 4,000 remained missing at the time of her remarks, including an estimated 90 Americans, the majority of them of Indian descent.
Since then, there have been glimmers of hope. Sixteen Americans have been confirmed safe, according to updated information from the State Department, bringing the number of U.S. citizens still unaccounted for to around 75.
For their families, however, the agonizing wait continues.
Among those missing are Ramesh Sharma, 65, and Neelam Sharma, 64, of New York City. Their adult children, Dr. Radhika Sharma and Akash Sharma, traveled to Nepal to join efforts to find their parents rather than wait helplessly thousands of miles away.
Also unaccounted for are Rekha Shashidharan, 54, and her 14-year-old daughter, Rashi, from New York. The mother and daughter had embarked on a spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and were staying near the border shortly before the floodwaters struck. Their family was later told that the hotel where they had been staying had been washed away.
Three other travelers with ties to the New York area — Amita Amin, 67, of Roslyn Heights; Jitendra Manubhai Patel of Merrick; and Tejal Vyomesh Patel, 64, of New Jersey — were traveling together on the pilgrimage. Amin, making her seventh journey to Mount Kailash and her second this year, was accompanied by Patel, the mother-in-law of her son, and Jitendra Patel, a longtime family friend.
Relatives believe the three had just crossed into Tibet when disaster struck. Their last communication came roughly an hour before floodwaters tore through the border region, destroying infrastructure and cutting off communications.
For Meng, whose Queens district is home to large Indian-American, Nepali-American and Tibetan-American communities, the tragedy has reverberated close to home.
“We are committed to supporting our Asian American communities across the United States — and especially those who live in my district in Queens, New York — as we navigate this profound tragedy,” she said. “We stand with all those affected, both at home and abroad.”
The uncertainty extends far beyond New York.
Six Northern Virginia residents are among a group of 10 men who remain missing after setting out for Mount Kailash. Nine members of the group are U.S. citizens — Anil Goel, Srinivas Sudhir Rangu, Laxminath Gopisetty, Kesava Rao Tadipatri, Kirti Acharya, Sudhindra Yapalparvi, Vivek Srivastav, Venkat Balasubramanyam and Venkat Bangalore. The 10th member, Mahendra Gupta, is a Canadian citizen.
Subramanyam, whose district includes several of the missing men, said his office has remained in regular contact with the State Department as families seek information.
“I am especially concerned that so many U.S. citizens have been impacted and are currently missing, including many of my constituents from Northern Virginia,” he said. “Some of them were community leaders who went to find spiritual connection in the Himalayas.”
His office, he said, is pressing for a thorough search-and-rescue operation and regular communication with families awaiting news.
Krishnamoorthi has similarly urged the State Department to use every available resource to help locate the missing and provide answers to their families.
“The United States must continue working closely with authorities in Nepal and the region to provide answers to families awaiting news of their loved ones,” he said.
Among the missing is Poonam Thakkar, 42, of Bartlett, Illinois, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen who had spent two years planning her spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Kailash.
Texas families are waiting, too. Deepak and Madhu Ahuja of the Dallas area had undertaken what was meant to be a joyful “bucket list” journey to Mount Kailash to celebrate Deepak’s 60th birthday. They have not been heard from since the disaster.
Venkat Balasubramanyam, a tech program manager from Austin and a member of the Northern Virginia-led group, is also missing. His wife, Usha Iyer, and other family members have been working with authorities in hopes of tracing his last known location.
Tennessee has another connection to the tragedy through the Isha Foundation, whose North American center is in McMinnville. A large group affiliated with the organization was caught in the disaster while returning from Mount Kailash, with 22 American citizens among those initially reported missing.
Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said his thoughts and prayers were with Tennesseans and others affected and that his office was continuing to follow developments.
Across party lines and across states, lawmakers have called for greater assistance and sustained efforts to locate those still unaccounted for. But behind the numbers are individual families enduring the same painful uncertainty.
Some of the missing had saved and planned for years to make the sacred journey. Others were celebrating birthdays, retirement or long-held dreams. Parents traveled with children, husbands with wives and friends with friends, drawn to the Himalayas by faith and the hope of spiritual fulfillment.
On the House floor, those individual stories converged in a rare moment of collective silence.
“I ask my colleagues to join me in a moment of silence to remember the victims, support the survivors, and honor those working tirelessly on recovery and rescue efforts,” Meng said.
For the families of the Indian-Americans who have yet to come home, the silence carries another meaning: the absence of a phone call, a message or any definitive word from the people they love.
And as search efforts continue across a devastated and difficult-to-reach region, they are holding on to the hope that the next name added to the list of those found safe will be theirs.
