Kathmandu, Aug 29. (dpa/GNA) – The deteriorating condition of bodies recovered, following the flood disaster in Nepal and Tibet, is making it increasingly difficult to identify the victims.
Of 233 bodies recovered in the Chitwan district on the border with India, only four have so far been identified, according to a statement issued by the local district administration on Saturday. Many of the victims were swept away for several kilometres by the force of the flood.
The bodies and human remains are increasingly decomposing, the district official in charge, Ganesh Aryal, said three days after the initial disaster.
Health experts have therefore warned of a potential risk to public health. The authorities have now ordered that DNA samples be taken from the dead and any remains found before burial. The experst said unidentified victims should be buried in a single location in the central Nepalese town of Devghat.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the relevant authorities, the district administration stated. Regardless of the pathogens originating from body parts, the risk of diarrhoeal diseases, for example, is rising in the flood-affected areas.
Flooding can wash sewage and faecal matter into drinking water sources. latrines may be damaged, and sewage treatment plants flooded.
In emergency shelters and makeshift camps, hygiene conditions may be poor.
One disease that often becomes more prevalent during such natural disasters is cholera, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.
GNA