Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Rescue teams in Nepal continued to search for thousands of missing people on Saturday, 11 days after devastating floods hit large parts of the country, while authorities struggled to identify many of the dead. According to Nepal Police, the death toll has reached 1,344, nearly 5,000 people remain missing, and more than 13,100 people have been rescued so far.
The disaster was triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, which sent a huge surge of water and debris down the Bhotekoshi River, devastating settlements in northern and central Nepal. Homes, vehicles, roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure were swept away or damaged. The flooding also affected areas across the border, with at least 31 people killed on the Chinese side and more than 500 still missing in Tibet, according to Chinese media reports.
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Officials said at least 85 of the bodies recovered in Nepal were children, while around 500 bodies were recovered with body parts missing. The condition of many bodies has made identification difficult. Chitwan district accounted for the highest number of bodies recovered, at 362, followed by Nawalparasi East, Nawalparasi West, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Gorkha, Dhading and Tanahun, according to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Only 98 bodies had been identified and handed over to their families, the authority said. Officials said many bodies had been swept far downstream, while others remained in water and mud, leaving them severely damaged, decomposed or recovered only in parts. Nepal Police has started collecting DNA samples from relatives of missing people to help identify unclaimed bodies and human remains recovered after the floods. Relatives in Nepal can give samples at the Nepal Police Hospital in Kathmandu or at their nearest district police office.
Officials said more than 1,000 unidentified bodies had been buried after DNA samples were collected so they could be identified later. Identifying the dead has emerged as one of the biggest challenges in the aftermath of the disaster.
Nepal’s Information and Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina said the government would ensure there was no shortage of relief material and no mismanagement in its distribution to flood victims in Rasuwa. Speaking to the online edition of the government-owned Gorkhapatra, he said the government was actively involved in relief and rehabilitation despite the scale of the disaster. He said temporary accommodation had been arranged for flood victims in schools and hospital buildings, while plans were being prepared for their long-term settlement. He also said the government was mobilising its forces and mechanisms to restore disrupted communication, electricity and road networks in the affected areas.
“Nepal demands climate justice at this moment and the international community should be serious about this,” Timilsina said, adding that the disaster highlighted the need for greater preparedness for future climate-related disasters.
Meanwhile, a fresh flood in Gorkha district early on Sunday swept away four houses and a suspension bridge, though there were no casualties. Police said the flood took place in Chumnubri Rural Municipality-4 after the Namrung Khola River overflowed. Residents of the four houses fled after noticing the approaching flood. Authorities said the river may have been temporarily blocked near its source before releasing a surge of mud and debris downstream. The Namrung Khola flows into the Budhigandaki River, and residents living along the Budhigandaki have been asked to remain alert. Local reports said two small hydropower projects in the wider Namrung area were also damaged, while movement in the area was affected after the suspension bridge was swept away.
As rescue and relief operations continue, Nepal is dealing with a rising death toll, thousands of missing people, large-scale damage and the difficult task of identifying those killed in one of the country’s most devastating flood disasters.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
