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The heartbreak of reporting from a camp housing Nepal flood survivors

Shreejana ShresthaBBC Nepali, Nuwakot, Nepal
News imageBBC A woman in a white shirt cries while holding a hand to her chestBBC
One woman rescued by the Nepali Army says her husband, father, and mother are still missing

I enter the camp to an absolutely heartbreaking scene.

Hundreds of people are queuing outside, desperately trying to see if they can find their loved ones.

This army camp in Nuwakot, one of the main districts in central Nepal affected by devastating flash floods and massive landslides, has been turned into a search-and-rescue centre.

Inside, a woman cradling an infant in her arms is crying hysterically. Her entire family, including her father, husband and mother, are all missing. She is traumatised, and in so much pain.

There are other people who have sustained injuries, and some who say they had miraculously survived.

One driver who was working in Rasuwa tells us he'd been thrown into the water when the floods hit. He still doesn't know how he managed to survive. Yet while thankful to be alive, he is also devastated - he's also lost more than 20 of his friends.

When I try speaking to him he is unable to focus, and not in a proper state of mind. There are tears in his eyes.

News imageGetty Images Women walk past a house damaged by flash floods in DevighatGetty Images
More than 400 people have died after flash floods hit the Nepal-Tibet border

At one point while filming, a woman - perhaps in her 60s or 70s - is taken out of a helicopter and brought to the centre to be treated.

She suddenly collapses. I later learn she has died. It is tremendously difficult to describe what I witnessed.

Every hour at the camp there are dozens of helicopters coming and going, and many people are receiving treatment.

Whenever these helicopters come, people look at them with a ray of hope their loved ones will be inside.

Even as the helicopters land, blowing gusts of wind and mud down on everyone, people still don't look away - trying to catch a glimpse of who's on board.

News imageA white helicopter sits in an open field in the foreground, while an orange helicopter hovers in the air behind it. Two black helicopters sit in the field in the background.
At least 12 helicopters were mobilised by Nepal's government to continue search and rescue operations, according to officials

After we leave the camp we try to get access to the internet so we can share what we've seen, but internet connectivity is extremely poor, so we drive about three hours back to our office in Kathmandu.

Disasters are something I have covered several times in Nepal, but this is one of the most harrowing I have ever seen.

But as a journalist you do your job: you receive information and report what you see.