Kavre Starts Legal Process to Declare 37 Missing Flood Victims Dead

Kavrepalanchok's District Administration Office began the legal process on Tuesday, October 13, to declare 37 of its residents dead, seven weeks after they went missing in the floods that tore through the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers in Rasuwa district on August 26, Setopati, DC Nepal and Nagarik News reported.

The 37 were Kavre residents who had gone to Rasuwa for work or travel when the flood hit, according to the Kavrepalanchok District Administration Office. The office says four of the district's missing have since been confirmed dead, and four others who were initially reported missing have made contact with their families again. Families can apply at their ward office from Thursday, October 15, and get at most five days to do so, Chief District Officer Gopal Kumar Adhikari said.

The process opens the way to settle the legal status of the 37 missing, Setopati, DC Nepal and Nagarik News reported. Chief District Officer Gopal Kumar Adhikari said the office is working under a special legal procedure the government introduced through an ordinance amending Nepal's disaster laws, published in the Nepal Gazette on Asoj 23, which was October 9, Setopati reported.

Under the procedure, families must submit an application with proof of relationship and a self-declaration to their ward office. Where no family member is available, the ward chair must prepare a report with the local police and ward secretary. Ward committees must forward verified lists to the local disaster management committee, which has three days to hear any objections before sending final details to the district administration office. Ward offices must send the details of each missing person's contact person to their municipality by Kartik 11, which is October 28. Local disaster committees must send their decisions to the district committee by Kartik 18, which is November 4, Adhikari said, according to Setopati, DC Nepal and Nagarik News. The district committee then has five days to send the list to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, Nepal's disaster management body, and the relevant provincial ministry.

Separately, Nagarik News reported that the UN Loss and Damage Fund, which helps developing countries hit by climate disasters, will hold a special board meeting on Kartik 5, which is October 22, to decide on a proposal to give Nepal $21.6 million for flood recovery. Of that, $1.6 million is earmarked for monitoring and oversight rather than direct relief, Nagarik reported. Nepal's finance minister and its agriculture, forest and environment minister wrote to the fund seeking help after the flood, Dr Maheshwar Dhakal, spokesperson for the agriculture, forest and environment ministry, told Nagarik. The government's own preliminary estimate puts rehabilitation and reconstruction needs at at least $4.71 billion, Nagarik reported, a figure far larger than the pending fund proposal. The board meets as the UN climate conference, COP31, approaches in Antalya, Turkey, from November 9 to 20.

What the coverage missed

Kavre's 37 missing are a fraction of a much larger, unresolved toll. A preliminary assessment Bagmati province submitted on October 8 estimated that 1,455 people died and 5,285 remain missing across the province from the same flood, the Kathmandu Post reported. No outlet covering Kavre's declaration process has placed the district's 37 inside that wider count.

Nepal Electricity Authority spokesperson Rajan Dhakal told the Kathmandu Post on Friday, August 28, its preliminary assessment put flood losses across more than a dozen hydropower projects and transmission lines in the hundreds of billions of rupees, a figure that dwarfs the $21.6 million proposal now before the Loss and Damage Fund board.

What we still do not know

Whether the national disaster authority will publish its own death and missing count to set beside Bagmati province's estimate of 1,455 dead and 5,285 missing is not yet known. The authority and the Ministry of Home Affairs could answer this.

What compensation, land or inheritance rights open up for Kavre families once their relatives are formally declared dead is not yet spelled out. The Kavre District Administration Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs could answer this.

Whether the Loss and Damage Fund board approves the $21.6 million at its Kartik 5 meeting, and how much reaches flood survivors rather than monitoring costs, remains to be decided. The fund's board could answer this.