Nepal held a day of mourning on Monday in memory of those killed in the August 26 floods, with flags at government offices flown at half-staff and families concluded mourning rituals.
Monday was the 13th day since the floods that killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet and left about 5,000 others missing, including foreigners, according to the Nepal Disaster Management Agency.
In Hindu-majority Nepal, mourning periods last for 13 days, with close family members staying home and relatives visiting to offer condolences. Rituals are held on the last day to pray for the souls of the departed.
Many people whose relatives are still missing performed symbolic funerals. Cremation is an important last rite in Hindu traditions, and performing the ceremony even without the bodies of their loved ones gives some families a sense of spiritual release.
The government declared Monday an official day of mourning and ordered flags in government offices to be flown at half-mast.
Meanwhile, tracing efforts continued, but some protested that not enough was being done.
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In Kathmandu, relatives gathered near the Prime Minister’s offices and key ministries to demand that the government speed up search and rescue efforts for hundreds of people who were working in hydropower plants and who were either swept away by the swollen Bhutikhoshi River or buried under rubble.
Sumana Shrestha stood with family members holding a poster with a photo of her 55-year-old husband, who has been missing since the day of the flood.
Her husband, a consulting geologist, had promised to return home after finishing his shift at the Trishuli hydropower station project office on the day of the flood. The two-and-a-half-story office was completely buried under rubble.
“We are here because we have not heard of any rescue attempt in this project, but it has already been 13 days,” she said. “The only thing we could do was pray to God and hope for a miracle.”
Another protester, Mahesh Prasad Shrestha, carried a photo of his brother Neeraj Shrestha, a 52-year-old engineer who works at the same site. Authorities did not send a small excavator by helicopter until the sixth or seventh day after the disaster, he said, adding: “They should have ordered large helicopters from places like China or India to transport the equipment.”
Candlelight vigils were held at several places in Kathmandu in memory of people who lost their lives during the floods.
Authorities said rescue efforts focused on 12 hydropower projects, where about 900 workers were missing and about 500 others were believed to be trapped in various tunnels. Specialized rescue teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States are searching the debris, damaged structures and tunnels in the projects.
Two Nepalese workers were rescued from the factory on Friday, and rescuers pulled a Chinese man from the factory on Saturday.
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