As the death count from Nepal’s devastating flash floods continues to rise, authorities are facing a new challenge: a shortage of space to store the mortal remains of those killed in the disaster. Nepal, a landlocked nation between India and China, has morgues with a combined capacity to store roughly 350 bodies. But with the death count already crossing the 600-mark, hospitals are struggling to accommodate the remains.
The death count is feared to rise, as more than 2,500 people still remain missing, which would only aggravate this problem. This has prompted Nepalese authorities to set up temporary facilities to store bodies until the victims’ family members come and identify them.
Close-up photos, temporary facilities
Explaining the process of identifying the mortal remains, Nepal Police’s SP Rameshwor Paudel said authorities first click the photographs of the bodies after retrieving them. If the body is not clear, then they are first cleaned and then a tag is placed on their body bags before bring brought to a temporary facility where room temperatures are kept around zero degrees.
“We have been doing it because there is a problem in identifying the bodies of the victims. If some of the relatives of the missing persons would come to inquire, then we display the photos of the recovered bodies. If they identify the bodies of their missing relatives, then we will hand it over after completing the procedures,” he told news agency ANI.ย
‘Situation increasingly difficult’
The bodies are being managed by a committee headed by a district police chief under the Unidentified and Unclaimed Bodies Management Guidelines, 2021. However, those committees are now coordinating with central authorities because they are finding it ‘increasing difficult’ to manage the situation, as more bodies keep arriving.
The police have said that they are now collecting the fingerprint and DNA samples of the unidentified bodies if facial identification is not possible.ย
“If relatives cannot be located or the bodies identified, we cannot keep them indefinitely because fingerprints and DNA samples are collected beforehand,” Kaski district’s police chief Nabin Karki told ANI. “Later, on the basis of the guideline, in involvement of the local authorities, we manage the bodies in the particular place with the tags.”
Over 2,500 still missing
Rescuers have now scrambled to locate the over 2,500 people who are still missing. As of now, the death count stands at 616, but will rise further, as authorities recover more bodies. With the situation remaining grim, Nepal has decided to accept foreign help in search and rescue operations, allowing teams from India and China to assist the local authorities.
“We received massive pressure from the international community to allow at least search-and-rescue teams and some experts because their citizens have also gone missing in the floods,” a senior government official told The Kathmandu Post. “We are allowing a limited number of experts in certain areas.”
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