NDTV Ground Report: A Desperate Search For Missing Loved Ones In Flood-Hit Nepal

The stench of death has enveloped the area around Tribhuvan Hospital in Kathmandu. Photographs hang on strings outside, a tapestry of the tragedy that has so far claimed over 1,200 lives in Nepal. A week after the August 26 flash floods, doctors are finding it hard to even scan the bodies for fingerprints or other ID marks, while relatives outside hang on to hope that they'll at least get the remains of their loved ones. So far, all they know is that over 4,000 people are still missing, and at least 161 bodies remain unidentified at this premier hospital in the capital as of September 2.

The Search, The Wait, And The Grief: Families Wait At Hospitals, Desperately Searching For Missing Loved Ones@vedikas brings this report from Kathmandu | #NepalFloods pic.twitter.com/mUU8VvbdsT

— NDTV (@ndtv) September 2, 2026

Across the worst-affected districts north or northwest of Kathmandu, bodies are being buried even though people in the primarily Hindu country follow cremation as tradition. The burials are supposed to be temporary, to ensure infection or disease does not spread until the bodies are identified.

DNA samples have been collected, and signboards and unique numbers signify which body is buried where, in case exhumation is needed.

In Chitwan, for instance, burial pits are being dug to a depth of 1.5 metres to ensure the bodies can be easily exhumed later. A 40-centimetre gap has been maintained between them to ensure that only the specific body identified via DNA matching is retrieved.

Some families have made an agonising choice, performing symbolic last rites for those still missing.

In Nuwakot, one of the worst-hit districts, families are holding symbolic funerals. Along the Trishuli river, priests place straw effigies representing the missing and perform Hindu cremation rituals, allowing families to offer a final farewell despite having no bodies to recover.

In the medium and long term, Nepal is already speaking of "climate justice" as its own carbon emissions - contributors to global warming that is seen as a factor behind glaciers melting and causing floods - are negligible when compared to neighbours China (30 per cent) and India (8 per cent), and the US (13 per cent). In that context, launching a diplomatic pitch to seek international monetary assistance, Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has asserted that post-disaster aid should be treated as a matter of "moral liability".

In an interview with Kantipur TV, excerpts of which were published by news agency PTI, he said, "We are paying the ultimate price for a global crisis we did not create. The rapid melting of glaciers and these catastrophic mountain tsunamis are direct consequences of global climate change."

Khanal said Nepal is shifting its diplomatic framework: "This is not a matter to be limited merely to relief or rehabilitation assistance. The role of the world's large and wealthy nations in climate change is significant, whereas ours is extremely minimal. Yet, we are paying a heavy price... We will turn this into an issue of justice in the international arena."

He said Nepal would raise the issue at international forums. "This is not about asking for aid; it is about the obligation of large nations," he said.

The minister said Nepal's finance ministry has officially dispatched a formal climate compensation claim letter to its international partners.

"If our Himalayan glaciers disappear, the water security of over 2 billion people in South Asia -- dependent on rivers like the Ganges and the Trishuli -- will be permanently compromised. We are advocating not just for Nepal but for the survival of South Asian civilisation," he added.