The toll from the devastating floods and landslides that struck the border between Nepal and China this week rose on Sunday to 797 dead and 3,048 missing, as emergency teams continue searching for survivors in isolated Himalayan localities.
Most of the victims are concentrated in Nepal, where the authority in charge of emergency management raised the provisional toll to 781 dead and 2,502 missing.
In Chinese territory, meanwhile, state media reported 16 dead and 546 missing persons.
Four days after the disaster, rescuers are working amid the mud and rubble of devastated localities, also facing destroyed roads, communication interruptions, and the threat of new overflows and landslides.
In the Nepalese town of Bharatpur, about 160 kilometers downstream from one of the hardest-hit areas, relatives of the missing have had to review photographs of recovered bodies to try to identify their loved ones.
The morgues in the area are also overwhelmed by the number of victims. In the Devghat forest, in the Chitwan district, hundreds of graves were dug to bury remains that were dragged from the areas affected by the floods and whose state of decomposition makes recognition difficult.
“We had no other option and had to take this step. We were concerned about the public health risk posed by the rapid decomposition of the bodies,” explained Ganesh Arya, district chief of Bharatpur.
Authorities reported that 96 unidentified bodies were buried the previous day and that more than a hundred were scheduled to be buried on Sunday.
Before the burials, teams made up of rescuers, police, and officials photograph the remains and collect information that may later facilitate their identification.
DNA samples are also being taken from the bodies and the location of each grave is being precisely recorded. In this way, the remains can be located and exhumed if they are later identified through genetic tests, official records, or family members.
India has already sent a forensic team to collaborate with Nepalese authorities in analyzing the samples, while Nepal maintains contacts with Chinese specialists.
Among the missing are also foreign citizens. However, the available information provides different figures regarding their number: one report mentions 592 foreigners, while another states that more than 260 citizens from 23 countries remain unlocated.
Authorities have also not yet been able to establish the total magnitude of material damage. Nepal’s Foreign Minister estimated that reconstruction could cost “several billion dollars” and requested support from the international community.
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