Nepal is observing a national day of mourning on Monday to remember more than 1,380 people who died in recent catastrophic floods triggered by a Himalayan glacier collapse, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera.
The Ministry of Home Affairs stated that government offices and diplomatic missions abroad are flying the national flag at half-mast to mark the 13th day since the disaster. In Hindu tradition, this marks the final day of the mourning period. However, the government has not organized any large-scale official events due to limited resources and ongoing rescue operations. Phanindra Paudel, an official from the National Emergency Operation Center, confirmed to Reuters that search and recovery efforts remain the primary focus in the affected regions.
The disaster occurred on August 26 when a massive wall of mud and rock, triggered by a breaking glacier, collapsed into a river near the border of Nepal and China’s Tibet region. Authorities report that the incident left at least 1,380 people dead and more than 5,500 individuals missing. Over the past few days, search teams have managed to rescue four people alive, including a Chinese national who was pulled from a hydropower tunnel.
Meanwhile, in the capital city of Kathmandu, desperate family members gathered near the prime minister’s office and key ministries to demand faster search operations. Many of the missing individuals were working on various hydropower projects and were swept away by the rushing Bhotekoshi River or buried under heavy debris. Sumana Shrestha, whose geologist husband remains missing, expressed frustration over the lack of visible rescue attempts at his worksite. Another protester, Mahesh Prasad Shrestha, stated that authorities only dispatched a small excavator by helicopter several days after the disaster, arguing that heavy equipment should have been urgently brought in from neighboring countries.
Rescue efforts are currently concentrated on 12 hydropower project sites where approximately 900 workers are unaccounted for and roughly 500 are believed to be trapped inside tunnels. Specialized rescue teams from India, China, South Korea, and the United States are working alongside local authorities to search through the debris and damaged structures.
