Nepal Floods: Bodies Overwhelm Morgues, Temporary Storage Facility Set Up In Chitwan

Bodies of people swept away by the devastating Bhote Koshi floods in Nepal are being recovered far downstream, overwhelming morgues and forcing authorities to set up temporary facilities to store and identify the remains, according to a media report.

Bodies recovered from Rasuwa and Nuwakot have been found as far downstream as Chitwan, Tanahun, Nawalparasi, Gorkha and other districts, with morgues in several areas running out of space, The Kathmandu Post reported.

The Bhote Koshi flash floods struck Nepal on Wednesday, sweeping through Rasuwa and other districts before surging downstream along the Trishuli and Narayani river systems, causing widespread loss of life and damage to settlements, roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure.

In Chitwan, where the number of recovered bodies has exceeded hospital capacity, authorities are preparing a temporary body storage centre in Bharatpur, the report said.

An unused building of the Industrial Enterprise Development Institute on Vidhyut Road in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-10 will be converted into the facility, following a decision taken at a meeting chaired by Chitwan Chief District Officer Ganesh Aryal on Thursday, it said.

Early Thursday, 137 bodies were recovered along the Chitwan stretch of the Trishuli and Narayani rivers, between Phishling and Golaghat, with recoveries continuing.

The growing number of recovered bodies has also prompted families of missing people to travel to Chitwan from Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Gorkha and other districts in search of their relatives.

Morgues at hospitals in Chitwan can collectively accommodate between 30 and 50 bodies, Aryal said, adding that the temporary facility is expected to have space for around 250 bodies.

If that capacity is also exceeded, authorities have decided to use the electric crematorium at Devghat as an additional option, according to the report.

Bharatpur Metropolitan City will repair and equip the temporary facility. Authorities plan to control the temperature inside the rooms, install air conditioners and use dry ice to slow decomposition.

Meanwhile, morgues in Pokhara have also been nearing capacity after bodies were transported there from several flood-hit districts.

A total of 93 bodies have been brought to Pokhara from Tanahun, Gorkha, Nawalparasi East and Dhading, the report said.

Kaski Chief District Officer Kuman Singh Gurung said hospitals in the district had a combined capacity to accommodate 88 bodies.

"By the numbers, we are already above capacity," Gurung said, adding that authorities had managed to accommodate the bodies for now but would have to coordinate with neighbouring districts if more arrived.

The bodies are currently being stored at temperatures between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius at Pokhara Academy of Health Science, according to Sushil Aryal, the hospital's information officer.

Bodies can generally be preserved at those temperatures for only 10 days to two weeks, he said, adding that longer storage would require facilities capable of maintaining sub-zero temperatures.

Authorities are also preparing for the management of unidentified and unclaimed bodies as recoveries continue.

Under Nepal's Unidentified and Unclaimed Bodies Management Guidelines, 2021, a committee headed by the district police chief is responsible for managing the remains, the report said.

Police photograph the bodies, take fingerprints, conduct post-mortems and collect DNA samples. Where possible, photographs are made public to help families identify their relatives.

Kaski police chief Superintendent of Police Nabin Karki said unidentified bodies could not be kept indefinitely and authorities were preparing to designate secure burial sites if relatives could not be traced.

Each body would be assigned a tag number, with details of the burial recorded for future identification, he said.