Nepal cuts wait period to declare missing flood victims dead

Nepal’s president on Friday shortened the waiting period to declare missing disaster victims dead from 12 years to about 1.5 months, as thousands remain unaccounted for following the Himalayan country’s devastating flood.

The catastrophic flood on Aug 26 was triggered by a mountain and glacier collapse on the China-Nepal border.

The tsunami-like floodwaters swept through several districts, destroying roads, bridges and hydropower dams and killing more than 1,400 people.

More than 5,000 people remain missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals.

Under prior Nepalese law, a person had to be missing for 12 years before they could be legally declared dead.

“The 12-year period is being reduced to around 45 days,” government spokesman Sasmit Pokharel told reporters this week after a cabinet meeting forwarded an ordinance updating the timeline to the president.

Kiran Pokharel, press advisor to president Ram Chandra Poudel told AFP on Friday that the “ordinance relating to disaster laws has been issued”, without sharing details of the amendments.

So far, just 112 bodies have been identified and returned to their families.

Rescue teams spent weeks searching through metres of mud and sediment and combing through flood-damaged homes for survivors and victims.

More than a month after the disaster, families of missing victims have been unable to obtain death certificates, preventing them from accessing compensations or resolving property issues.

Some families have already held symbolic cremation ceremonies for relatives who remain missing.