Nepal buries dead as rescuers seek thousands missing

The tragic Nepal floods have claimed at least 810 lives, with 43 Australians currently missing. The majority of the missing Australians were on pilgrimages, including to the sacred Mount Kailash in Tibet. Fourteen individuals are members of the Australia Bharatha Brahmin Samaj community, based in Sydney. As families anxiously await news, they have faced a torrent of racist slurs on social media.

Outsiders have even questioned whether individuals who weren't white could truly be Australian. Major news organizations like News Corp, Channel 7, Channel 10, and Nine have encountered hateful comments on their Facebook articles about the missing tourists. Some outlets have restricted comments due to the influx of abusive posts.

One Daily Telegraph article received numerous racist responses on Facebook, which were later deleted. The Daily Telegraph's editor acknowledged the "abhorrent" nature of these comments and the challenges in moderating them. The race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, expressed shock at these comments, attributing them to the rise of white supremacy ideology in recent years.

He called for greater accountability from social media platforms, suggesting they possess the technical infrastructure to combat harmful content. The Hindu Council of Australia urged people to show compassion for the victims and their families, rather than using the tragedy to voice grievances against the government.