5,200 missing in Nepal floods may soon be declared dead; search for South Koreans also expected to wrap up this weekend

[Financial News] Nepal, where more than 5,200 people went missing in the massive floods that struck in August, has sharply shortened the legal waiting period for recognizing missing people as dead, from 12 years to about 45 days. As a result, bereaved families are expected to be able to obtain death certificates and proceed with legal matters such as collecting compensation and inheriting property.
According to AFP and other foreign media on the 10th (local time), Nepalese President Ram Chandra Paudel promulgated an emergency decree on disaster-related matters the previous day, shortening the waiting period for declaring people missing in disasters dead to around 1.5 months (45 days). With the 45th day since the floods struck on August 26 falling today, the 5,285 people currently listed as missing are expected to be declared dead soon.
Under Nepal's previous laws, a person had to remain missing for 12 years before being legally recognized as dead. As a result, even more than a month after the disaster, bereaved families were unable to obtain death certificates and faced major difficulties receiving government relief payments and transferring property titles. Some families reportedly even held symbolic cremation ceremonies without knowing whether their loved ones were alive or dead.
The Nepalese government is providing bereaved families with compensation of about 200,000 Nepalese rupees (about 1.74 million won) for the first victim in a family and 100,000 rupees (about 870,000 won) for each additional death. It is also providing separate funeral assistance of up to 25,000 rupees (about 220,000 won).
Earlier, on August 26, massive landslides and torrents originating in the Himalayan mountains along the China-Nepal border swept into downstream areas, leaving at least 1,455 people dead and 5,285 missing to date. Nepal's disaster authorities have recovered 1,454 bodies so far, but in one-third of those cases only partial remains were found. Just 112 bodies have been identified and returned to their families. As the chances of finding survivors dwindled, the Nepalese government suspended search and rescue operations on the 5th except in emergencies, and shifted to the search and reconstruction phase.
Meanwhile, the search for nine South Korean employees missing at the construction site of the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 Hydropower Plant in Rasuwa, Bagmati Province—three from Korea South-East Power and six from Doosan Enerbility—is also expected to wrap up this weekend. The local personnel who have been conducting ground searches will be virtually impossible to secure as Dashain, Nepal's biggest holiday, begins on the 11th. The companies' response team is reportedly planning to suspend its existing search operations, except for excavation work using excavators and other equipment.
[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter