Nepal floods: Death toll hits 1,453 as 5,285 remain missing after a month

A month after the Nepal floods, police and officials are still identifying bodies and tracing missing people. The reliance on DNA profiling highlights the scale of destruction and the strain on recovery efforts.

In Short

• Rescue teams have pulled 13,795 people to safety since the disaster
• Over 1,100 displaced people are staying in 21 holding centres
• Security agencies have treated around 11,000 flood-affected people for injuries

A month after flash floods devastated parts of central and northern Nepal, at least 1,453 people have died and 5,285 remain unaccounted for, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. The agency said 13,795 people have been rescued so far.

The floods began near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26 and caused widespread destruction as waters from the Bhotekoshi River swept downstream. Homes, vehicles, roads and bridges were washed away, and hydropower projects were damaged.

The NDRRMA said 1,451 bodies have been recovered so far, while two other people died while undergoing treatment. Of those rescued, 1,113 people are now staying in 21 holding centres, including 187 from Nuwakot, 805 from Rasuwa and 121 from Dhading districts.

According to the authority, security agencies have provided medical treatment to around 11,000 people affected by the floods. Seven injured people are currently undergoing treatment.

Authorities said identifying 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. Many of the recovered bodies were badly damaged or fragmented, making visual identification difficult.

Nepal Police is relying on DNA profiling to match recovered remains with people reported missing after the floods. Police said 1,329 DNA samples have been collected from recovered bodies and remains, and another 2,060 from relatives of missing people.

With mortuaries unable to hold the large number of bodies, authorities have buried many unidentified remains after completing the required procedures and collecting DNA samples and other 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 found. Nepal Police has also asked relatives of missing people to provide blood samples for DNA profiling, preferably from a first-degree relative such as a parent or child, or from a sibling if a first-degree relative is unavailable.

The disaster also killed 43 people in Tibet, while more than 500 remain unaccounted for there, according to Chinese media. A month on, the scale of deaths, missing persons and the effort to identify remains shows the continuing impact of the floods in Nepal and the wider Himalayan region.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends