Four days after the flood in Nepal, the death toll due to the disaster has reached over 900, with 4,700 still missing, even as authorities intensified rescue operations. The preservation of recovered bodies has become a challenge for authorities.
So far, 272 bodies have been recovered from Chitwan, 207 from Nawalparasi East, 151 from Nawalparasi West and 62 from Gorkha districts, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said. Similarly, 95 bodies have been recovered from Nuwakot, 55 from Dhading, 37 from Tanahu and 24 from Rasuwa. 99 security personnel and 591 foreigners are also missing.
“We are working in search and rescue of the stranded people from hills, settlements and river areas,” said Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, Nepal’s army spokesman.
Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai said Nepal urgently required freezer units and DNA-testing kits, warning that the bodies must be preserved and identified quickly to prevent decomposition and contain public-health risks. He said the government is “putting all our resources at disposal in relief and rescue operations.”
A study reveals rising frequency of natural disasters and their disproportionate economic and human toll on vulnerable, low-income nations.
In one Nepal district, the flood catastrophe is being measured by the bodies in the burial trenches. Many people swept downstream in south-central Nepal’s Chitwan district, the scale of catastrophe was evident with over 250 bodies awaiting identification and the hastily dug trenches for their temporary burial. Authorities carried out a temporary burial of about 100 victims on Saturday, officials said as forensic teams struggled to cope. A convoy of vehicles carrying bodies entered a lush forested area as an excavator dug a wide trench in the red earth while officials and media looked on.
Neighboring nation China provided $2.2 million in financial assistance to Nepal for victims of the flood, with the President Li Qiang expressing condolences over the loss of lives and property, the government said on Monday.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Zhang Maoming handed over a cheque for NPR 350 million, equivalent to $2 million, to Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle on Sunday as assistance from the Chinese government, the Finance Ministry said.
The Chinese envoy also handed over $200,000 in assistance from the Chinese Red Cross to the Nepal government, it said.