Families in Nepal are performing symbolic Hindu last rites for relatives who remain missing after catastrophic flash floods swept through northern and central parts of the country on August 26. The floods killed more than 1,200 people and left almost 5,000 missing.
At the Bagmati River beside Kathmandu’s Pashupatinath Temple, relatives are using effigies made from sacred kusha grass in place of bodies as hopes of finding missing family members fade.
Families search, then perform symbolic rituals
Khim Bahadur Gharti Magar said his uncle Tham Bahadur Pun, 71, and aunt Chausara Pun, 64, disappeared while on a pilgrimage in northern Nepal. The group they travelled with included 17 buses; relatives found four other members of the group dead before deciding to carry out the last rites.
Sujan Achhami, 23, performed a symbolic cremation for his missing father, Dinesh, nine days after the 41-year-old driver disappeared in Rasuwa, the district hit worst by the floods. Another survivor, Maniram Tharu, said his brother Dipendra and sister-in-law Phool Maya Tamang, both hydropower workers, were also missing. For additional context, see “Rescuers search hydropower tunnels after Nepal floods kill more than 1,270”.
What we know now
- Authorities say 1,344 bodies have been recovered.
- Of those, 1,030 have been temporarily buried at sites across Nepal.
- Families have received 96 bodies after identification.
- Police collected DNA samples from recovered bodies before burial to support later matching with relatives.
Authorities face a difficult identification process
Nepal Police spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle said storing recovered bodies is a major challenge because many have decomposed or were recovered in pieces. Police have numbered the bodies and buried them temporarily in Chitwan, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Kathmandu, Pokhara and other areas.
The temporary burials are intended to allow exhumation and handover to families once identities are established. Families, including Pun’s relatives, have provided DNA samples to police in the hope that identities can be matched later. A related part of this story is covered in “Flood disaster leaves more than 1,300 missing across Nepal and Tibet”.
Religious concerns add to the distress
The government’s temporary burials have drawn outrage from people who say they conflict with Hindu religious traditions. A veteran priest at Pashupatinath said symbolic cremations are legitimate under Hindu scriptures, while describing the need to perform them without bodies as a tragedy.
What happens next
Police will use the collected DNA samples to support identification and matching with families, with the stated aim of exhuming temporarily buried bodies and handing them over once identities are established. The development of this issue can be followed in “Nepal flood disaster leaves thousands missing as rescue access remains difficult”.
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