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Twenty-five days after the deadly flash flood that devastated northern Nepal, authorities reported Sunday that the death toll has reached 1,451 with 5,786 people missing, while more than 20,000 security force personnel remain deployed in the affected areas searching for bodies and survivors.
The Nepalese National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) increased the number of fatalities by forty compared to its Saturday report, although 530 records correspond to body parts, thus complicating the establishment of a consolidated figure.
Authorities have collected nearly 1,300 DNA samples from human remains and about 2,000 from family members to facilitate the identification of victims, supported by forensic experts from India, South Korea, China, and Singapore.
"To date, 1,949 samples have been received for analysis at the Nepal Police Central Forensic Science Laboratory (NPCFSL) in Samakhusi, and 1,728 samples for analysis at the National Forensic Science Laboratory in Khumaltar," the NDRRMA indicated in a statement on Saturday.
The scale of the disaster has caused the number of missing persons—which includes 636 foreigners—to fluctuate, with authorities adding a thousand names to the list last Thursday after rescuers reached some of the most heavily affected areas.
Nearly 13,800 people have been rescued while search efforts continue at six hydroelectric projects where it is feared that dozens of workers may remain trapped.
The so-called "Himalayan tsunami," one of the worst natural disasters in years in Nepal, occurred on the morning of August 26 after a glacial and rocky mass of two square kilometers detached from Langtang Lirung mountain in the Nepalese Himalayas, at an altitude of 5,200 meters.
The resulting flood swept away thousands of homes and businesses, in addition to damaging dozens of hydroelectric projects and other infrastructure. Nepal estimates that the country's reconstruction will cost more than $4.7 billion.
In the neighboring Chinese region of Tibet, which was also hit hard by the avalanche, the latest balance released by authorities brings the death toll to 43, while 519 people remain missing.
[Publicidad]