Nepal holds day of mourning for more than 1,300 killed in floods

Nepal flags fly at half-mast to mark a day of mourning after catastrophic Himalayan floods kill more than 1,300.

A flood-affected area in Devighat, Nuwakot district, Nepal, September 7, 2026 [Narendra Shrestha/EPA]

Nepal is holding a national day of mourning to remember more than 1,300 people who died in last month’s catastrophic floods.

Government offices in Nepal and missions abroad are flying the national flag at half-mast on Monday, the 13th day since the floods, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.

list 1 of 3 Relatives hold cremations without bodies for Nepal’s missing flood victims

list 2 of 3 Photos: UN urges global aid after China, Nepal floods kill over 1,300

list 3 of 3 China, Nepal race to find thousands still missing 12 days after floods

In the Hindu tradition, it is the final day of the mourning period, during which close family members stay at home and relatives visit to pay their respects. On the final day, rituals are held to pray for those who died.

The government has not planned any wider events for this day of mourning because search teams are still looking for survivors and resources are limited.

“There are no government programmes organised as the rescue and search operation is still going on in the flood-hit areas,” Phanindra Paudel of the National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC) told the Reuters news agency.

A huge wall of mud and rock, triggered by a glacier breaking off, collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border of Nepal and China’s Tibet region on August 26, causing flooding that killed at least 1,380 people and left more than 5,500 missing.

In recent days, search teams in Nepal have rescued four people, including a Chinese national who was pulled from a tunnel at a hydropower site on Saturday. The others rescued were two hydropower workers from another tunnel on Friday, as well as a Nepali woman pulled out from her buried house on Saturday.

President Ram Chandra Paudel, the ceremonial head of state, is touring flood-hit areas on Monday and will survey damage caused by the disaster, his aide said.

In Kathmandu, family members gathered near the offices of the prime minister and key ministries to demand the speeding up of the search for the hundreds of people who were working on hydropower projects and were either swept away by the rushing Bhotekoshi River or buried by the debris.

Sumana Shrestha stood with her family members holding a poster with the photo of her 55-year-old husband, who has not been heard from since the day of the flood.

Her husband, a consulting geologist, was supposed to return home after his shift at the project office for the Trishuli hydropower plant on the day of the flood. The two-and-a-half-storey office was buried by debris.

“We are here because we have not heard of any rescue attempt on this project, but it has been 13 days already,” she said. “The only thing we have been able to do is pray to God and hope for a miracle.”

Another protester, Mahesh Prasad Shrestha, held a photograph of his brother Niraj Shrestha, a 52-year-old engineer who worked at the same site.

He said authorities sent only a small excavator by helicopter on the sixth or seventh day after the disaster, adding: “They should have ordered big helicopters from places like China or India to fly in equipment.”

Rescue efforts have focused on 12 hydropower projects, where about 900 workers are missing and roughly 500 are believed to be trapped in various tunnels, authorities said.

Specialised rescue teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States have been searching through debris, damaged structures and tunnels at the projects.

尼泊尔国旗降半旗，以示哀悼，此前喜马拉雅山洪暴发造成 1300 多人死亡。

2026年9月7日，尼泊尔努瓦科特县德维加特受洪水影响的地区 [Narendra Shrestha/EPA]

尼泊尔举行全国哀悼日，悼念上个月在毁灭性洪灾中丧生的1300多人。

尼泊尔内政部在一份声明中表示，自洪水发生以来的第 13 天（星期一），尼泊尔政府机关和驻外使团将国旗降半旗致哀。

列表 1/3：尼泊尔失踪洪灾遇难者家属为失踪者举行无遗体火化仪式

图2/3：中国和尼泊尔洪灾致1300多人死亡，联合国呼吁全球提供援助

列表 3/3：中国和尼泊尔竞相寻找洪水过后12天仍失踪的数千人

在印度教传统中，这是哀悼期的最后一天。在这一天，近亲会留在家中，亲戚们也会前来吊唁。最后一天，人们会举行仪式，为逝者祈祷。

由于搜救队仍在寻找幸存者，资源有限，政府没有为这一天的哀悼活动安排任何大型活动。

国家紧急行动中心 (NEOC) 的 Phanindra Paudel 告诉路透社：“由于洪水灾区的救援和搜救行动仍在进行，因此没有组织任何政府项目。”

8月26日，尼泊尔和中国西藏地区喜马拉雅山脉交界处的一条河流中，冰川崩塌引发的泥石流倾泻而下，造成至少1380人死亡，5500多人失踪。

近日，尼泊尔搜救队已救出四人，其中包括一名周六在水电站隧道中获救的中国公民。其他获救人员包括周五在另一条隧道中获救的两名水电站工人，以及周六从被埋房屋中救出的一名尼泊尔妇女。

总统拉姆·钱德拉·鲍德尔（Ram Chandra Paudel）的助手表示，作为国家元首的总统将于周一视察洪灾地区，并调查灾害造成的损失。

在加德满都，遇难者家属聚集在总理府和各重要部门附近，要求加快搜寻数百名在水电项目上工作的工人，这些人要么被湍急的博特科西河冲走，要么被瓦砾掩埋。

苏玛娜·什雷斯塔和她的家人站在一起，举着一张海报，上面是她55岁丈夫的照片，自洪水发生以来，就一直没有他的消息。

她的丈夫是一名地质咨询师，洪水当天本应在特里苏里水电站项目办公室下班后回家。那栋两层半的办公楼被瓦砾掩埋了。

“我们来这里是因为我们没有听到任何关于这个项目的救援行动的消息，但已经过去13天了，”她说。“我们唯一能做的就是向上帝祈祷，希望奇迹发生。”

另一名抗议者马赫什·普拉萨德·什雷斯塔 (Mahesh Prasad Shrestha) 举着他哥哥尼拉杰·什雷斯塔 (Niraj Shrestha) 的照片，尼拉杰是一名 52 岁的工程师，曾在同一工地工作。

他说，灾难发生后的第六七天，当局才用直升机派出了一台小型挖掘机，并补充说：“他们应该从中国或印度等地订购大型直升机来运送设备。”

救援工作主要集中在 12 个水电项目上，当局称，约有 900 名工人失踪，另有约 500 人被认为困在各个隧道中。

来自印度、中国、韩国和美国的专业救援队一直在这些工程的废墟、受损建筑物和隧道中进行搜寻。