Each new toll from Nepal is worse than the last. The death toll from the devastating floods has now reached 919 , with nearly 4,800 missing. Search and rescue operations continue in extremely difficult conditions, as authorities struggle to manage hundreds of unidentified bodies.
In detail, 903 people have been recorded dead and 4,247 missing in Nepal. In the neighboring region of Tibet , in China , another 16 people have been found dead , while 546 people are missing.
Rescuers are continuing their relentless efforts, despite the risk of further landslides and flooding. The biggest concern is the hydroelectric projects in the affected area. According to Nepal’s disaster management agency, 933 people are missing from hydroelectric projects, with teams concentrating their efforts on about half a dozen tunnels blocked by tons of mud and rocks.
The Trishuli 3 dam construction site is at the epicenter, where it is estimated that about 100 workers may be trapped. Rescue teams are trying to clear a path through the rubble, and rescuers with oxygen equipment are planning to enter. “A large amount of debris has accumulated and this is a big challenge for us to open the tunnels,” Nepalese army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told Reuters, noting that this remains the main objective.
The operation involves about 21,000 security personnel , along with civilian personnel and volunteers, while Nepal is assisted by experts from India and China . However, the efforts have been repeatedly suspended due to bad weather. On the Chinese side, rescuers had to move to a safer place after a new lake was formed by a landslide.
Alongside the rescue, however, a second battle is being fought, equally difficult and much more silent. That of identifying the dead . Families of missing people are flocking to hospitals and identification sites looking for any trace of their loved ones. Around 250 bodies were swept away by the torrents and found in the Chitwan region, more than 100 kilometers from the site of the disaster.
The situation is getting worse as many bodies are already decomposing and infrastructure is inadequate. The Bharatpur morgue can accommodate about 20 bodies , with authorities forced to use additional rooms without air conditioning.
For public health reasons, Nepal has begun to carry out temporary burials of unidentified victims. Before each burial, DNA samples are taken, details are recorded and each grave is numbered. For Hindus, the authorities explicitly clarify that this is a temporary solution, so that families can later exhume and cremate the dead, according to tradition, once official identification is complete. It is a detail that reveals an attempt to maintain some dignity in circumstances that do not easily allow it.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said authorities were making every effort to locate the missing, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The disaster struck last week in the rugged Himalayan region on the border of the two countries, when huge amounts of ice, rock and mud caused flash floods and landslides, sweeping away homes, roads, bridges and entire facilities. A week later, the number of missing people remains five times the number of dead, and that is perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of the toll.
