{"id":8440,"date":"2026-09-05T04:39:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T04:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8440"},"modified":"2026-09-05T04:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T04:39:57","slug":"hopes-dim-for-woodland-couple-missing-in-nepal-flooding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8440","title":{"rendered":"Hopes dim for Woodland couple missing in Nepal flooding"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>Family members continue to hold out hope for a Woodland couple who remain among the missing in Nepal after catastrophic flooding caused by a glacier collapse.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8438\">San Jose federal judge issues tentative ruling to pause ICE project near Gilroy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hanumantha Rao Unnava and Vasundhara Unnava are among hundreds reported missing as a result of the flash floods along the Nepal-China border on Aug. 26.<\/p>\n<p>Rao had retired from UC Davis in July 2025, where he served as dean of the Graduate School of Management. Vasundhara is a former lecturer at the university.<\/p>\n<p>The couple are Woodland residents and had embarked on a retirement trip that was to include a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, followed by two months in India with family. Rao is 66 years old.<\/p>\n<p>At least 1,287 people were killed in the Aug. 26 floods,\u00a0likely caused by a glacier collapse, and more than 5,000 remain missing, according to the country\u2019s disaster management agency. China said\u00a0late Wednesday\u00a0that 21 people were killed and 541 were missing on the Tibet side of the border.<\/p>\n<p>Nepal\u2019s disaster agency estimated Friday that flooding caused at least $2.5 billion in damage to infrastructure and property.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday, UC Davis Chancellor and Provost Gary May and Mary Croughan issued a statement on behalf of the university directed to family and friends of the Unnavas, who were called \u201ctwo beloved members of the UC Davis community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe understand they were staying in a hotel in Timure, Nepal, a few kilometers from the border of Nepal and Tibet, when the flash floods occurred on August 26,\u201d the statement reads in part. \u201cThey have not been located or heard from since then.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThey have touched countless through their work at the Graduate School of Management and throughout their careers in higher education,\u201d the statement continues. \u201cWe are grateful to both Rao and Vasu for their contributions that extend far beyond GSM and UC Davis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Unnavas\u2019 children and extended family are reportedly \u201cpursuing every available avenue to obtain information and requested assistance from U.S. government agencies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to hope Rao and Vasu will be found safe and sound. Again, please keep them, their children, and extended family in your thoughts and prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A group called Indian-American Community News reported the Unnavas were staying at Hotel Kailash in Timure, near the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between Nepal and Tibet. They were traveling with a tour group organized by Himalayan Glacier.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cTheir daughter, Vaasavi Unnava, believed her parents had already crossed the border into Tibet when news of the devastating floods emerged,\u201d the publication reported. \u201cShe tried reaching them on WhatsApp, expecting the familiar reassurance of a message from her parents. The messages never delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8437\">First gray wolf sighting in a century reported in Mendocino National Forest<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The publication also reported the couple\u2019s names now appear on an official Nepal Police registry of 65 U.S. citizens reported missing in the disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Both the Unnavas are former Ohio State faculty members who had built long careers at Ohio State\u2019s Fisher College of Business, according to a site titled \u201cAll Things Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRao Unnava earned his doctorate there and spent 32 years at the school as a marketing professor and senior associate dean before becoming dean of the graduate business school at UC Davis,\u201d the publication reported. Vasu Unnava also earned her Ph.D at Fisher and went on to lecture in marketing at UC Davis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a story on Rao\u2019s retirement written by Cindy Brown in July 2025 for UC Davis, he was called a \u201ctrailblazer in academia and entrepreneurship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is thanks to Dean Unnava\u2019s creativity, enthusiasm, and visionary leadership that UC Davis continues to be recognized as one of the most innovative business schools in the country,\u201d said Mary Croughan, provost and executive vice chancellor. \u201cHis focus on increasing access to academic programs and elevating the student experience has boosted enrollment, and his collaborative spirit has been such a benefit to UC Davis. I am very grateful that the campus will continue to benefit from Dean Unnava\u2019s ideas, experience, and passion as an esteemed member of our faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Rao was named Dean of the Year by Poets &amp; Quants, an industry publication focused on business education.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis prestigious award recognized his innovative programming, including expanding opportunities for experiential learning that built skills on the business side of some of UC Davis\u2019s greatest strengths: agriculture, biotechnology, and sustainable energy, among others,\u201d according to Brown\u2019s story. \u201cThis year,\u00a0Poets&amp;Quants\u00a0named the UC Davis Graduate School of Management among the\u00a0top 10 business schools to watch\u00a0in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Among Rao\u2019s initiatives, Brown reported, were launching the first online MBA and part-time Master of Management programs in the University of California system, offering credit-bearing stackable credentials that could be applied toward a degree program, deferring tuition for online MBA candidates, creating a lifelong learning platform for the GSM community, and opening all MBA content to alumni for free.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder Unnava\u2019s leadership, the Graduate School of Management\u00a0partnered with UC Davis Athletics\u00a0to provide student-athletes with a way to continue competing in sports while earning a master\u2019s degree,\u201d Brown wrote. \u201cThe collaboration led to an accelerated one-year Master of Management program, and dozens of student-athletes have earned the degree and entered their careers with a solid foundation in business, including accounting, finance, economics, and marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following his departure, Rao planned to return to UCD to teach advertising and marketing as a professor in the Graduate School of Management in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Rao earned a bachelor of science degree in electronics engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad, India, a master of business administration degree from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, and a doctorate in business administration from the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8435\">That new trail has a few surprises, Bay Area hikers are warned<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Family members continue to hold out hope for a Woodland couple who remain among the missing in Nepal after catastrophic flooding caused by a glacier collapse. Hanumantha Rao Unnava and Vasundhara Unnava are among hundreds reported missing as a result of the flash floods along the Nepal-China border on Aug. 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hopes dim for Woodland couple missing in Nepal flooding - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8440\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hopes dim for Woodland couple missing in Nepal flooding - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Family members continue to hold out hope for a Woodland couple who remain among the missing in Nepal after catastrophic flooding caused by a glacier collapse. 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