147 Local Representatives, Government Workers, Teachers and Security Personnel Missing After Bhotekoshi Floods

At least 147 elected representatives, government employees, teachers and security personnel remain unaccounted for after devastating floods swept through Nepal’s Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts on Aug. 26. They are among 3,916 people still missing, according to government data.

The missing include eight local elected representatives, 32 employees working for local governments, 24 other government employees and 83 security personnel. Two government employees have been recovered and identified. Unless the underlying government dataset indicates otherwise, those two are included in the reported employee figures rather than added to them.

Seven elected representatives from Gosainkunda Rural Municipality in Rasuwa remain missing. They include Vice-Chairperson Pratima Tamang, ward chairpersons Kami Chhiring Tamang and Dawa Mingyar Tamang, executive committee member Karmu Tamang, and ward members Laxmi Pariyar, Kami Sidar Ghale and Sonam Chhiring Ghale. Gyanu BK, an executive committee member from Uttargaya Rural Municipality, is also missing.

Thirty-two employees from the two rural municipalities are unaccounted for, including 11 teachers. The group also includes health workers, agricultural technicians, social mobilisers, office assistants, information technology officers and accounting staff. Dipak Dhakal, head of the disaster management section at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, said the figures reflected information available so far and would be updated as new details emerge.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority separately listed 83 missing security personnel: 45 from the Nepal Army, 25 from Nepal Police and 13 from the Armed Police Force. Other missing government workers include 15 Rasuwa Customs Office staff, three immigration officials, three Plant Quarantine Office employees and three Langtang National Park workers. Another 639 hydropower project workers and employees remain missing. Authorities said Wednesday that 1,114 bodies had been recovered.