Nepal Names 2,294 Missing After August Floods in Verified List

Nepal disaster authority has published verified details of 2,294 Nepali nationals and 171 foreign nationals who are still missing after the floods that tore through the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river valleys on August 26.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority released the list on Saturday, November 7. The 2,294 Nepali nationals come from 32 districts. The 171 foreign nationals come from seven countries, and the list does not include India, because the authority said it had not yet received a confirmed list of missing Indian nationals from the Indian Embassy.

Less than half of the missing are named

The same authority counts 5,285 people still missing after the floods, which killed at least 1,455 people. The published names, 2,465 people in total, cover less than half of that count. The authority says the list is not final and that a revised notice will follow once district offices and foreign missions send in more details.

Every name on the list was verified the same way. Local governments recommended names based on permanent residence, and the District Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committees approved them. Rasuwa district, where the flood hit hardest, accounts for the largest share of the missing, more than 1,500 people.

What families are asked to do

The authority asks that anyone on the list who is found alive, or their immediate family, submit a claim within seven days. Families can read the full list on the authority website or ask their local government or District Administration Office.

The release comes about a month after the government ended its 40 day search and rescue operation on October 5 and shifted its work to rehabilitation and reconstruction in the affected areas. The flash floods began near the Nepal and Tibet border on August 26 and ran down through towns and villages in northern and central Nepal.

For families in Rasuwa and the other 31 districts, the list is the first official document that puts a verified name to a person who has not come home in more than ten weeks. It is also an incomplete one, with about 2,820 of the counted missing still not named.

The August disaster is also the ground on which Nepal and Bhutan have jointly proposed a dedicated Himalayan climate agenda item at the COP31 summit, which opens in Antalya on November 9. Nepal's delegation travels to the summit carrying the flood losses as its central case for a regular mountain item in the UN climate process.