Nepal is preparing to amend two laws so that the 5,285 people still missing after the August 26 floods can be legally registered as dead, allowing their families to access relief, compensation and other legal benefits, officials said. The move comes days after the government ended its 40-day search-and-rescue operation on Monday, October 5, though authorities say essential search work, including the recovery of human remains, continues.
According to revised figures from Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, at least 1,455 people were killed and 5,285 remain missing in the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods, which swept away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges across northern and central Nepal. Officials told a parliamentary special committee on Tuesday, October 6, that the amendments would cover the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act and the National Identity Card and Registration Act, and would be pursued through a "fast-track" process.
For thousands of families, the absence of a body has meant the absence of legal recognition. Without death certificates, they have been blocked from compensation, insurance claims, bank access, inheritance and property transfers, leaving them in legal limbo even where relatives are presumed to have died.
Reactions to the end of the search have been mixed. Some families have held protests and vigils, calling the decision an abandonment. "I am so angry at the government for giving up on search and rescue with thousands of people still missing," said Usha Khatri, who has searched for her husband in multiple towns along the river. "Either they have to give up the body or show some solid proof that my husband is gone, and only then can they declare him dead."
Others welcomed the shift and are seeking government-issued death certificates. "After so many days and weeks, there is little or no hope of finding anyone alive... we are just looking for a closure," said Nirajan Poudel, who lost five family members in the flood. Poudel said the government has so far refused to issue the documents, saying laws need to be amended first.
Some families have performed symbolic funerals using effigies made of Kusha grass where bodies were never recovered. Cremation is an important final rite in the Hindu tradition, and the ceremony can provide a sense of spiritual release — but it does not establish legal death. Senior advocate Raju Khadka stressed that religious rituals and legal recognition of death are separate matters.
Under Nepal's Civil Code, a person continuously missing for 12 years is generally presumed dead. Section 40 does provide a judicial route to declare someone dead who disappeared in a disaster or accident, even without a recovered body, if sufficient evidence is presented. But families and local officials say forcing thousands of households to go to court, collect documents and produce witnesses would create another costly and lengthy ordeal. Jayaram Upreti, chief administrative officer of Uttargaya rural municipality, said ward offices currently lack the authority to issue death documents where no body has been recovered and identified.
The government is now moving to shorten the wait. A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, October 7, recommended that the President issue an ordinance amending disaster-related laws, with government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel saying it would reduce the existing 12-year waiting period. Officials have discussed a revised period of around 45 days, but the government has not yet disclosed the final timeframe.
What is confirmed: the search-and-rescue operation has officially ended; the death toll stands at 1,455 with 5,285 missing, according to the revised authority figures; and amendments to both acts are being prepared through a fast-track process and possibly an ordinance, since Parliament's regular session has ended. What remains unknown: the exact new waiting period for declaring a missing person dead, when the ordinance will be authenticated and issued, and how quickly families will actually be able to obtain death certificates once the law changes. Officials say the revised period will become clear only after the ordinance is issued.