Nepal is officially shifting from rescue to recovery following the August 26 floods that killed at least 1,455 people and left thousands more unaccounted for. Authorities said Monday that active search and rescue operations have ended along Nepal’s border with Tibet, where a mountain glacier’s collapse triggered a swift-moving wall of water, with nearly 13,800 people rescued but 5,285 still listed as missing, per Reuters. Officials are now focused on rebuilding and on the difficult task of legally recognizing the missing as dead so families can pursue insurance, banking, and other formalities.
While teams won’t be scouring for bodies, they’ll collect remains and lost property as the slow rebuilding effort begins. Officials estimate nearly $5 billion will be needed for early recovery and rehousing efforts. More than 7,500 buildings have been destroyed and roads and farmland remain buried under 1 million cubic meters of debris, according to the UN Development Program. In the long-term, officials intend to drain four glacial lakes high up in the mountains, which a 2020 UN report found to be at significant risk of triggering downstream floods, per ABC Australia.