Kathmandu: Fours days after flash floods hit Nepal, the authorities have started burying unidentified bodies.
Around 750 bodies have been recovered so far, of which only 20 have been identified by family and relatives till Saturday night.
As rescue teams raced against time to find the estimated 2,500 people still missing, morgues and temporary relief centres have run out of space.
Since the bodies have started decomposing, officials have no choice but to bury them.
But what about identification of hundreds of bodies?
Before burial, DNA samples are being collected by forensic personnel, and each body is assigned a permanent identification or reference number. Photographs, physical descriptions, clothing, jewellery, identity documents and other belongings will be preserved under the same tracking number. That will ensure families will be able to identify their loved ones later, The Kathmandu Post reported.
Records of inquests, autopsies, DNA profiles, burial dates and exact location of each grave will also be maintained by Nepalese authorities, and these will be later matched with missing-person reports and DNA samples from relatives.
Nepal Police has published details of unidentified and unclaimed bodies of flood victims online. In a post on X, Nepal Police said people can scan a QR code or visit its official database to view information about bodies recovered.
The disaster, triggered by a glacier collapse near the Nepal-Tibet border, sent torrents of water, mud, rock and debris down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems. The floods swept away houses, roads, bridges and infrastructure projects.
Rasuwa, bordering Tibet which was also affected, is the closest district to the origin of the floods. But the surge of water downstream sent bodies to seven other districts in Nepal, and also as far as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The most number of bodies has so far been found in Chitwan (259), followed by Nawalparasi East (184), Nawalparasi West (82). Only 13 bodies have been recovered from Rasuwa.
