Nepal Ends Search for Flood Victims as Families Feel Anger, Relief

KATHMANDU – Nepal says it plans to end search and rescue efforts for victims of the Aug. 26 floods, which killed at least 1,455 people and left thousands missing.

Relatives of 5,285 people still unaccounted for, including hundreds of foreign nationals, reacted with a mix of relief and anger after the government announced the decision late Monday.

The office of Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the government would now focus on rehabilitation and reconstruction. Priorities include rebuilding roads and bridges severed by the floods, especially in remote areas where damaged infrastructure has hindered aid deliveries.

Officials estimate recovery and reconstruction will cost $4.77 billion. The disaster affected nearly 33,000 people and damaged or destroyed about 7,500 homes.

Hopes of finding more survivors rose after rescuers pulled two Nepalese workers from an underground tunnel at the Trishuli hydropower project on Sept. 4. Two days later, a Chinese man was rescued from the same site.

Families of other missing flood victims have staged protests and held vigils across Nepal, demanding stronger search efforts.

Usha Khatri rejected the government’s decision to end the operations. She has spent days searching for her husband in towns along the river where recovered bodies have been taken.

“I am so angry at the government for giving up on search and rescue with thousands of people still missing. I just don’t understand how they can do that when we still have hope left that our loved one can still be found,” Khatri said Wednesday.

As she continued looking, Khatri reviewed photographs of recovered bodies that had been buried for preservation while authorities worked to identify them.

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“Either they have to give up the body or show some solid proof that my husband is gone and then only they can declare him dead,” Khatri said.

Other relatives supported the decision to end the searches and said they were seeking official death certificates.

“After so many days and weeks there is little or no hope of finding anyone alive. We are sure that none of our family members survived and we are just looking for a closure,” said Nirajan Poudel, who lost five relatives in the floods.

Some people whose relatives remain missing have held symbolic funerals. In Hindu tradition, cremation is an important final rite, and carrying out the ceremony without a body can offer some families a sense of spiritual release.

Poudel said the government has so far declined to issue death certificates, arguing that the law must first be amended. In Nepal, the documents are required for families to claim compensation and insurance benefits and inherit property.

Nepal’s government did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for further information about the certificates.

Legal experts said the central challenge was establishing how many people had been swept away by the floods.

“There is more to do with practical complications than legal provisions,” Supreme Court lawyer Hardik Subedi said. “The process has not been initiated that facilitates the death certificate.”