Nepal flood toll reaches 1,453, thousands still missing

A month after devastating floods struck Nepal, 1,453 people have died and 5,285 remain unaccounted for, according to the NDRRMA. Authorities have recovered 1,451 bodies, while DNA profiling is being used to identify remains and reunite them with families

Kathmandu: A month after devastating flash floods hit Nepal’s central and northern districts, at least 1,453 people have died and 5,285 remain unaccounted for, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

The NDRRMA said the bodies of 1,451 people had been recovered so far, while two others died while undergoing treatment. A total of 13,795 people have been rescued to date, it said on Saturday.

Of those rescued, 1,113 people are currently staying in 21 holding centres, including 187 from Nuwakot, 805 from Rasuwa and 121 from Dhading districts.

Flash floods originating near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26 devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal. The Bhotekoshi River, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.

The disaster also killed 43 people in Tibet, while more than 500 remain unaccounted for, according to Chinese media reports.

In Nepal, security agencies have so far provided medical treatment to around 11,000 people affected by the floods, according to the NDRRMA. Seven people injured in the floods are currently undergoing treatment, it said.

Identification of the dead remains a major challenge a month after the disaster. Of the 1,453 bodies recovered so far, 112 have been identified and handed over to their families, according to the NDRRMA.

Many of the recovered bodies were badly damaged or fragmented, making visual identification difficult. Nepal Police has therefore been relying on DNA profiling to establish links between recovered remains and people reported missing after the floods.

Police said 1,329 DNA samples had been collected from recovered bodies and remains, and another 2,060 from relatives of missing people.

With mortuaries unable to accommodate the large number of recovered bodies, authorities have safely buried many unidentified remains after completing the necessary procedures and collecting DNA samples and identifying details.

The samples are being preserved for future comparison so that the remains can be identified and handed over to families if a match is established, according to Nepalese authorities and local media reports.

Nepal Police has also asked relatives of missing people to provide blood samples for DNA profiling. It said samples should preferably be provided by a first-degree relative, such as a parent or child, or by a sibling if a first-degree relative is unavailable.