'Like one family': Australia's Nepali community faces anxious wait for answers

Australia's Nepali community remains hopeful for the welfare of loved ones missing in a cataclysmic flood that lashed the nation's border with Tibet one week ago.

Local officials fear many are buried under debris left by the floods that tore through towns and valleys near the ‌Chinese border, as the death toll reaches at least 1,204 people and more than 4,200 remain missing.

Authorities hold grave concerns for 38 Australians still missing in the flood impact zone despite five citizens being confirmed safe , the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed on Wednesday.

Rescuers are racing the clock in the search for survivors more than one week on from the disaster, but grieving community members in Australia continue to cling to hope.

"Lots of people are stuck in the tunnels over there as well, and most don't have any contact ... we are still hopeful that maybe we can get good news," Non-Resident Nepali Association Victorian co-ordinator Mahadev Dhanuk told Australian Associated Press (AAP).

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The association has raised almost $75,000 through community donations for relief efforts in the region as part of the Nepali Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund.

The tight-knit Victorian Nepali community of less than 30,000 is wrapping its arms around those affected by the tragedy, with hundreds uniting at a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims in Melbourne on Monday.

"Many are not personally affected, but culturally we feel like one family. That's why everyone is devastated," Dhanuk said.

"All of the community is trying to overcome their own plight and trying to help and think how can we stand with the Nepal?"

Five Australians had been confirmed safe by officials in Nepal and Tibet, while three others were located outside the crisis zone, the government said.

On the Sunshine Coast, community members are "doing everything they can" to rally around loved ones of missing disability support worker Renee Spry.

The Queensland mother of twin daughters was returning from the religious Mount Kailash pilgrimage, at an immigration centre near the Nepal-Tibet border, minutes before the catastrophic flood swept through the area.

"Every time we hear news of another person being found alive is a moment of extraordinary joy and relief," Sunshine Coast-based Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Ted O'Brien told AAP.