KATHMANDU: Security personnel risking their lives to rescue survivors and recover bodies after the devastating flash floods in Nepal are facing major challenges due to shortages of specialised rescue equipment, body bags, ropes and helicopters, officials said.
The flash floods, believed to have been triggered by a collapse or avalanche of ice and rock near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, swept through the Bhotekoshi River corridor, destroying homes, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.
The death toll from the disaster reached 939 on Monday, while over 4,000 people remained missing, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRMA).
Personnel from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force have been deployed in large numbers in the affected areas, but officials said the lack of state-of-the-art equipment was making operations in dangerous terrain particularly difficult, news portal http://ekantipur.com reported on Monday.
Among the equipment in short supply are thermal cameras, devices capable of detecting signs of life through sound, specialised tools for cutting through obstacles, body bags, ropes and advanced helicopters, the report said, quoting officials.
A police inspector said several people had contacted Police Control 100 seeking assistance, but personnel were sometimes unable to reach them because of operational difficulties. The Nepal Police, considered the frontline agency in responding to emergencies, has repeatedly sought the purchase of helicopters, officials said.
Families struggle to identify victims. People are facing difficulty in recognising bodies that are recovered far downstream and brought to hospitals, where photographs, physical features and personal belongings are often being used to establish identities.
Three families initially claimed the same body at a hospital in Pokhara, each believing they had found a missing relative after Nepal's devastating floods, highlighting the growing challenge of identifying victims.
Body number 1003 at Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences was claimed by the families of Gopal Dahit, a hydropower worker from Bardiya, and Damodar Basyal, a tourist guide from Rupandehi, while a third family also initially claimed it, Nepal News reported on Monday. The two families still disputing the identity have agreed to undergo DNA testing.
The images are harrowing - security personnel carrying out a rescue operation in Trishuli, Umerkot, hauling mattresses off a collapsed balcony. The numbers - 939 dead, 4000 missing - recall Nepal's 2015 earthquake. But the crisis now is logistical. Nepal, one of Asia's most disaster-prone countries, still lacks the thermal drones, acoustic detectors, and heavy-lift helicopters that could mean the difference between recovery and rescue.