The flood destroyed his village. Now, his friends in Morpeth want him to know they're with him

Morpeth is missing one of its own, and the town's residents want him to know that he is in their thoughts.

Raj Kumar Bhatta has been the chef at the Commercial Hotel on Swan Street, outside Maitland, for the past eight months.

Holly Bidwell, who manages the pub with her husband, Ben, said Mr Bhatta was part of the soul of the place.

"He is just such a beautiful human," she said.

It is part of what makes the tragedy that has befallen him and his family that much harder to reckon with.

Mr Bhatta has been absent from his regular post in the pub's kitchen for weeks.

On August 26, a devastating and sudden flash flood swept through the north of Nepal, where Mr Bhatta is from. His village, a ward called Tupche-7 in the country's Nuwakot district, was inundated and engulfed in a deadly wash of thick mud, rock and debris.

As the tragedy unfolded, broadcast to the world in heart-rending images of the destruction, Mr Bhatta tried desperately to make contact with his family at home.

He left as soon as he could to return to Nepal to search for them, as his employers, colleagues, friends and patrons in the Hunter clung to hope that they would be found.

Tragically, that is not how this story ends.

Mrs Bidwell waits by the phone now, as she has done since Mr Bhatta left, for small contact they have been able to maintain over WhatsApp.

"I got a message from him saying that he had lost his whole family," Mrs Bidwell said. "'I have lost all of my family, and now there is no more hope'."

Tupche-7 was a small village in the hilly region west of Kathmandu. Only weeks ago, it was a lush riverside settlement - Mr Bhatta had told Mrs Bidwell his home was among only about 60 others - on the bank of the Trishuli River system.

It was a green, terraced, mountainside region of local markets, tight neighbourhoods, nestled in the valley floor.

The flood took it all.

More than 80 people remain missing, Mr Bhatta has told Mrs Bidwell. His mother, brother, sister-in-law and four-year-old nephew are among the tally of those missing and presumed lost.

Mr Bhatta remains in Nepal with his wife and two-year-old child, tending to the affairs of his family in the aftermath of a tragedy that has befallen more than 82,000 Nepalese, including about 32,000 children, according to most recent reports by UNICEF.

More than 1300 people have died.

At home, Mr Bhatta's right-hand in the kitchen, Zack Amity, has been holding work together while the staff and patrons of the Commercial wait anxiously for news from abroad.

At first, Mrs Bidwell said, it was impossible to know how to begin. They knew only that they wanted to help, and felt powerless to do it.

Mrs Bidwell started taking small collections of coins in a bucket at the bar. She sends regular deposits to Mr Bhatta each week with messages that his friends are with him.

Locals have responded in the way the Hunter tends to respond in dark times - they came to do what they could.

"I've been at the pub each day," Mrs Bidwell said. "And people will come in - I might have never seen them before - but they will come in, put some money in and leave."

"The local cricket club has donated $2000. The gold club is donating."

At the weekend, a patron came to the bar, she said.

"I was about to put this $20 on the TAB, but it can go in the bucket," he said.

Mrs Bidwell, with Mr Bhatta's blessing, launched a GoFundMe campaign at the weekend to extend the line to those beyond the pub's walls. By Sunday night, close to $5000 had flowed in.

"It is so hard to make sense of something that is this tragic," Mrs Bidwell said. "But it is really lovely to see how people will do whatever they can."

Mrs Bidwell said the community and her staff were all hoping that Mr Bhatta will return soon, but as the tragedy continues to unfold abroad, she said there was little that could be known for certain.

"We miss him, and we would love to have him back," she said. "But we just want to support him with whatever he needs."

"I keep getting these messages," she said then. "'Thank you for all the support at this difficult time in my life'."

"Thank you Morpeth."