Arabic version: عائلات من سيدني تبحث عن حجاج مفقودين في نيبال

According to ABC News, Australian families are continuing to search for loved ones missing a week after the catastrophic Nepal-Tibet flood, holding onto hope that they may still be alive.

Sarada Viswanathan, 23, has established a home-based search effort in north-west Sydney for her partner Rishab Iyer, 23, and his family. The Iyers — Rishab, his brother Rudhra, father Sreedharan and mother Lakshmi — were travelling on a Hindu Indian pilgrimage and had been staying at the Royal Himalaya Hotel & Lodge near the flooded river.

Using Find My iPhone and Life360, Ms Viswanathan and friends have been examining the family’s last known locations. Relatives already in Nepal have passed on information, but access to the disaster area on foot has been difficult. Ms Viswanathan has also launched a petition seeking Australian defence personnel for patrols, helicopter searches and thermal-drone operations.

Australia has committed $8 million for aid supplies and sent an 18-person crisis response team, including consular staff and Australian Federal Police personnel. The Department of Foreign Affairs said it continued to offer search-and-rescue support to Nepali authorities, although the offer had not been taken up, and was working with telecommunications companies to help locate unaccounted-for Australians.

Umesh and Krishna Sharma, another Sydney couple travelling with the same pilgrimage group and staying at the same hotel, are also missing. Their son Chitrak Sharma travelled to India and remained on standby south of Delhi. Friends and relatives of the missing families also said they had encountered racist social-media comments questioning their Australian identity.