Nepal prepares death registration law changes for families of flood victims still missing

Nepal began preparing changes to two laws governing death registration for people missing after the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli floods, officials told a parliamentary special committee on October 6. The proposal matters to families who say they cannot obtain death certificates needed to pursue compensation and settle other affairs. The amendments are being prepared; no new process has yet been enacted.

Home Ministry Secretary Kedar Nath Sharma and Law Ministry Joint Secretary Subash Kumar Bhattarai described plans to amend the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act and the National Identity Card and Registration Act, according to Onlinekhabar. Officials said existing procedures were making it difficult for affected families to obtain relief, compensation and other legal benefits. They did not give a date for completing the changes or set out the final procedure families would use.

What Nepal is proposing to change

Bhattarai told the committee that the existing process for declaring and registering a death under the Civil Code was lengthy and cumbersome, Onlinekhabar reported. Officials were discussing how to advance amendments while Parliament was not in session. Those discussions establish the government's stated intention to change the process, but leave the wording and timing of any legislation unresolved.

The distinction matters for families dealing with a missing relative now. A proposed amendment does not itself issue a certificate or settle a claim. The reports do not establish how a future procedure would assess evidence, which office would make a decision, or how it would interact with compensation, insurance and inheritance requirements.

What the Civil Code already allows

That court route is relevant to the floods, although the legal text does not show that a declaration automatically produces administrative death registration or access to benefits in a particular case. Section 40 describes what a petitioner can ask a court to decide; officials' account to Onlinekhabar describes difficulties families still face in using existing procedures. The practical connection between a court order, a certificate and a payment remains unclear in the available accounts.

The BBC reported on October 6 that families of missing people had struggled to obtain death certificates. Bidur Mayor Rajan Shrestha told the broadcaster that local authorities were seeking action from the federal government. The prime minister's office said it was aware of difficulties the law could cause in exceptional circumstances, including disasters, while the Home Ministry said it was ready to amend the law if necessary.

Families weigh an end to search operations

The legal discussion comes as Nepal shifts from searching for flood victims toward rehabilitation and reconstruction. The Associated Press reported on October 7 that the government had decided to stop search and rescue operations for victims of the August 26 floods. AP said rescuers had recovered at least 1,455 bodies and 5,285 people remained missing at the time of its report. Those are AP's figures for that date, rather than a final count.

Families described different responses to that decision. Usha Khatri objected to the search ending while her husband remained missing, AP reported. Mahesh Shrestha said his family wanted the search for his missing brother to continue. Nirajan Poudel, who told AP he had lost five family members, welcomed a path to death certificates as a form of closure. AP reported that families said certificates were needed for compensation, insurance and inheritance.

The scale of the disaster adds urgency to the administrative question. AP reported a government estimate of $4.77 billion for reconstruction and recovery, with nearly 33,000 people affected and about 7,500 homes damaged or destroyed. Onlinekhabar reported that authorities were implementing household rent assistance of 15,000 to 19,000 rupees and had sent about 170 million rupees to local governments and district disaster funds. Those measures do not establish when any individual family's death registration case will be resolved.

The two outlets also reported different recovered-body totals. Onlinekhabar's account of officials' October 6 figures listed 1,457 bodies recovered, 1,334 bodies managed, 112 identified and handed to families, and 2,066 DNA samples collected. AP's October 7 report put recovered bodies at at least 1,455. The counts should be read with their dates and stated measures; the available reports do not explain the difference.