Nepal has officially called off its search and rescue operations for those missing almost 40 days after the catastrophic flash floods tore through the border with Tibet, killing at least 1,455 people.
The deadly floods in Nepal’s Bhote Koshi River on 26 August left more than 5,285 people, including hundreds of foreign nationals, missing.
Those still missing include 33 Britons, 80 Americans, more than 50 Ukrainian nationals, as well as Australians and Indians, with most presumed to have been swept away by the tsunami-like waves that destroyed towns and villages in Rasuwa and Nuwakot.
"We are moving from the search-and-rescue phase to the search-and-rehabilitation phase," said Phanindra Paudel, chief of the National Emergency Operation Centre.
Authorities were considering how to legally declare the missing persons dead to allow their families or relatives to complete insurance, banking and other legal formalities, he said. “We are initiating due processes to complete required legal formalities."
The authorities said at least 13,795 people have been rescued since the disaster.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told The Independent that they recognise how “distressing and difficult the ongoing situation is for affected families.”
“We continue to work closely with the authorities leading search efforts, and our priority remains supporting British nationals and their loved ones. Our thoughts remain with everyone affected by this disaster and with those still waiting for news of loved ones.”
Nepal, overwhelmed by the scale of deaths, has only handed over 112 bodies to their families following DNA tests. The other 1,333 bodies found so far have been temporarily buried, pending identification.
“A large number of people are missing, and the bodies that have been found... are difficult to identify,” said Nepali police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle. He told AFP: “We understand the pain people are in and our teams are working diligently.”
Dharam Raj Uprety, chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said authorities would no longer actively search for bodies but would recover any remains, property or other valuables found during the rehabilitation process.
Mr Uprety said emergency rescues would still be carried out if needed.
The flood destroyed 12 hydroelectric projects, a crucial driver of economic growth and an increasingly important source of export revenue. More than 800 people employed at the 12 hydropower projects in Nepal were still unaccounted for, the country's energy minister told parliament last month.
The government is also struggling to re-home and provide support to an estimated 33,000 displaced people, many of whom have spent the past month in tents at shelters.
Nepal’s government says it needs nearly $5bn to rebuild in the affected region and rehabilitate thousands of people displaced by the flood.
Prime minister Balendra Shah used his first address to the UN General Assembly to highlight the floods as a warning about the growing risks of the climate crisis, and to demand justice.
He framed the floods as a "Himalayan tsunami" and sought $20m in climate justice – the maximum amount available for a single event from a global fund. But the government has been slow to gather scientific evidence to substantiate the claims that the floods were a climate-related catastrophe.
A government panel tasked with determining the cause of the disaster and assessing the role of the climate crisis was still debating what to call the floods, according to The Kathmandu Post.
"We have not been able to reach the site because of a lack of resources," committee member Anil Pkharel told the newspaper.
"But based on the evidence and documents we have collected, along with consultations with scientists around the world, we have reached our conclusions. We will submit the scientific findings and supporting evidence to the government with the two-month deadline."
Meanwhile, officials said the country will begin a high-stakes effort to drain four glacial lakes perched high in the mountains as it scrambles to reduce flood risks.
"Our aim is to lower the risk of the lakes breaching their natural dams and reduce the risk of downstream floods," said Subash Tuladhar, an expert with a government research centre tasked with overseeing the new project.
Canals will drain water into nearby rivers in a regulated way, he said, adding that workers faced health risks as a result of the lengthy periods of high-altitude work required, in addition to the dangers of sudden flooding.
In China, the official death toll was 43, while 519 people, including foreigners, remain missing, according to state media.
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