Tibetan and Nepali Australians anxious as search continues for missing after border floods

Tibetan and Nepali Australians are anxious about family and friends missing after disaster struck the Nepal-Tibet border.

At least 160 people were killed and hundreds more — including 34 Australians — are missing after a huge wave smashed through villages yesterday.

It is believed a glacier avalanche likely caused the flood.

Tashi, a 51-year-old from Tibet who has lived in Melbourne for 13 years and asked to only use her first name for safety reasons, said she was worried about her nephew's wife and child.

She called home to Chinese-controlled Tibet as soon as she heard about the flash flood.

Her nephew works at the border police station in Gyirong County, where CCTV footage showed floodwaters sweeping through the area.

He escaped the disaster as he had left Gyirong a week earlier to care for his mother.

But his wife and daughter were missing, Tashi said.

"They tried to ring her, but the phone was not able to connect," she said.

"They're not sure what happened to them."

Tashi said there are several villages and schools in the affected area, and popular tourism sites.

She said she has communicated with her family through WeChat, but the connection has been intermittent.

"It's very risky sending that kind of footage outside," she said, adding that the platform is closely monitored by Chinese authorities.

"I'm worried about the Tibetan people affected around my village or nearby, and also the people in the downstream as well."

Tenzin Khangsar, co-chair of the Australia Tibet Council, said many community members had seen news of the disaster on social media.

"It was devastating, and my heart goes to the families and the people who are affected by this flood outburst."

Melbourne University PhD student Tulsi Ram Gompo received a call overnight that his family was safe, but his home and family farm in Nuwakot district, north of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, have been destroyed.

"Lucky my parents escaped, but my home and all our fields are all buried in the mud," he told the ABC.

"They told me many [people] were working in the fields and ran when a mudslide came," Mr Gompo said.

"But unfortunately many women, old-aged people, and children got stuck or were at home and didn't have time to escape."

He said he was waiting to hear about locals and relatives missing in his district.

"I have had family members contact me to try and find out information about dozens missing in my home town, so I try to find information on Facebook," he added.

Sujan Tamang from the village of Goljung in the Rasuwa district, in northern Nepal, said he was worried about his family.

"My relatives, my close friend and my villagers — they are still missing," he said.

"It's very sad for me, because there's no network, no electricity and it's very hard to connect with them."

"We want more help; they're still missing."

Northern Territory Nepalese Association secretary Anupam Dhungana said the flash flooding event was a "black day for the Nepalese".

"Everyone is shocked because there was no pre-information that the glacier was blocked; it came all of a sudden, so everyone is shocked," he said.

"It was unpredictable."

He said many Nepali people in the NT — of which there are almost 3,000 — spent much of yesterday looking at the emerging photos and videos from the natural disaster.

"Some of them … their friend has been lost," Mr Dhungana said.

"Lots of people are missing".

Melbourne-based Nepali woman Neelima Shrestha said it was overwhelming to see the footage of the devastating floods from her home country.

"Whenever we're scrolling, it's all about the flood and the victims, and it's really, very disturbing," she said.

"I think this is the [most] massive flood that Nepal has ever faced. This is very bad destruction that we have."

Nepali grocer Sanjay Manandhar, from the Melbourne suburb of Glenroy, said people were rallying to support one another and donate.

"We're just trying to help the community, like raising funds," he said.