When there is no body: Rethinking death registration after Nepal's disasters
Summary
Nepal’s flood-hit families are struggling to have missing relatives legally declared dead when bodies are not recovered, exposing gaps in the country’s death-registration system. The article argues for a faster, disaster-specific procedure that uses evidence from police, tourism agencies and embassies instead of requiring every family to go to court individually.
Key Points
- Families affected by the Bhotekoshi floods have held funeral rites without bodies, while many victims remain unaccounted for weeks after the disaster.
- Nepal’s law already allows a judicial declaration of death in disaster cases, but the current process is too cumbersome for mass-casualty events.
- The article proposes using verified records from travel agencies, police, hotels and rescue teams to support death declarations.
- It also calls for special assistance desks, priority court handling and a dedicated mechanism for future disasters, especially for foreign nationals.
