Nearly three weeks after catastrophic floods swept through Nepal's Himalayan valleys in late August 2026, the Himalayan nation is confronting a reconstruction bill estimated at more than $4.5 billion. With over 1,300 people confirmed dead and more than 5,300 still missing across Nepal and China's Tibet region, authorities continue to search for survivors and assess the full scale of the disaster, which was triggered by the collapse of a Himalayan glacier that sent walls of mud and water tearing through river valleys on both sides of the Nepal-Tibet border.

Among the stories of survival emerging from the wreckage is that of Sanjay Sah, a 30-year-old mechanical foreman who spent nine days trapped inside a dark tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station, a facility built deep inside a mountainside in Rasuwa district. With no food and no light, Sah survived by drinking floodwater and seepage from the rock, keeping his eyes shut for long stretches to avoid injuring them on debris. When despair threatened to overwhelm him, he recited the Hindu Maha Mantra — a chant central to Krishna devotion — to stay calm.