Retired UC Davis dean and wife, a professor, still missing in Nepal disaster

A retired UC Davis dean and his wife, an associate professor at the university, are among the thousands of people still missing following the Nepal-Tibet flash flood.

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The Woodland couple, Rao and Vasu Unnava, were on a retirement trip and were planning to spend two months in India when the flood hit on Aug. 26, Vaasavi Unnava, their daughter, told the Associated Press. She told the outlet that she started to worry after her WhatsApp message to her parents wasn’t delivered. (Vaasavi did not respond to SFGATE’s request for additional comment.) 

In a Thursday statement, UC Davis Chancellor Gary May and Mary Croughan, the provost and executive vice chancellor, said the couple were staying at a hotel in Timure, Nepal, and that no one has heard from them since the flood occurred. May and Croughan added that they hope the Unnavas are found safe amid the “anxious time of uncertainty.” 

“We are asking that you send thoughts and prayers to Rao and Vasu Unnava and their family,” the statement said.

Rao previously served as the dean of UC Davis’ Graduate School of Management for a decade before stepping down on July 1, according to the university. He is on a sabbatical leave and is expected to return to a faculty position at the university as a professor of marketing. Rao’s research has appeared in several scholarly journals, and he has won multiple awards, including Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher from the American Marketing Association’s student chapter seven times, his UC Davis bio shows. 

Vasu works as an adjunct associate professor at the Graduate School of Management, where she teaches marketing, UC Davis said. According to her LinkedIn profile, Vasu has worked at the university for about a decade. 

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UC Davis officials said a crisis response contractor for the university is working with officials in Nepal and with the U.S. Department of State to help find the couple. 

As of Sept. 4, 1,294 people have died in the catastrophic flood, 5,663 have been injured, 13,095 have been rescued and around 5,053 are still missing, according to the latest update from the Nepalese government’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. Another missing person, 48-year-old Prabath Sajeepa, is also from California, SFGATE previously reported. Sajeepa is a tech worker and Bay Area resident who was on a pilgrimage when the flood happened. 

Authorities believe the disaster was caused by a glacial collapse in Langtang National Park, Nepal, near the Chinese border, according to the United States Geological Survey. The destructive flood washed away entire neighborhoods, bridges and communication lines.