Their savings and qualifications were rendered worthless, the institutions for which they worked were either abolished or ruined, and they were forced to rent out their big, shabby flats to pushy foreign consultants half their age.
As for the rest of the Dagestanis, they are left with potholed roads, derelict farms and factories, a polluted sea and a grim landscape dotted with houses half-built or half-ruined.
Whoever is at fault, the result is that many flood victims have been left to fend for themselves, struggling to remake their homes or rebuild their ruined farms with the few resources they can muster.
One of my priorities as head of the new department for Children, Schools and Families is to make sure we help the most vulnerable - including those whose childhood is being ruined by abuse or bullying.
Cattle drowned can be crudely counted (140, 000, says one estimate for Argentina's Santa Fe province, stretched along 800km of the Parana), and the loss of crops ruined by flood or drought can be reckoned, but the long-term effects may take years to show up.
One year ago, many more people were living with family members or staying in hotels, inside their ruined homes.
And if that had gotten back to my friend, it could have potentially ruined her relationship with these colleagues or, worse, her career plans.
Vainglorious attempts by politicians to impose a minimum wage from outside would at best have had no effect or, at worst, caused unemployment and ruined lives.
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Local traditions dating back to at least the 18th Century suggest that the then ruined building was either a stronghold of the crusading Knights of Malta or a bishop's palace.
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