LAGOS, Nigeria. (Voice Of Naija) More than a week after one of the deadliest natural disasters in Nepal’s modern history, families along the banks of the Trishuli River are gathering at the water’s edge to perform funeral rites for relatives they fear will never be found, using straw effigies in place of bodies that the floods have swallowed whole.
According to the Associated Press today, the death toll from the August 26 glacial collapse and subsequent flooding has climbed to at least 1,118 people killed, with more than 3,900 still missing. Nepal’s Foreign Ministry confirmed to AP that 590 foreign nationals from 39 countries remain unaccounted for, while 324 others have been rescued.
The Washington Times describes harrowing scenes in Nuwakot, one of the hardest-hit districts: a priest placed straw effigies representing missing family members and covered them with small piles of wood before setting them alight, surrounded by offerings to Hindu deities, as relatives gathered to perform the final rites that their tradition requires for the soul’s release.
One resident, Mukunda Rijal, told reporters his cousins and their daughters had not been found, and the family had concluded there was no choice but to perform the symbolic ceremony. In Hindu belief, the soul cannot pass on without proper cremation rites.
According to various local and international reports, the disaster originated from a glacial collapse in the Himalayas on August 26, which sent rock, ice and meltwater cascading into valleys below, triggering powerful floods that swept through rivers across Tibet and Nepal.
ALSO READ: Nepal Flood Disaster: Glacier Collapse Leaves 903 Dead, 4,247 Missing
Homes, buildings, roads and bridges were destroyed across entire districts. About 400 survivors, mostly from the town of Timure, were sheltering at a monastery in Kathmandu, roughly 110 kilometres from the flood zone.
The international dimensions of the disaster are significant. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed to reporters that his country’s missing count had fallen from 43 to 38 after five Australian citizens were confirmed safe overnight.
China has reported 16 deaths and 546 people missing on its side of the border, and The Times of Israel confirmed that two Israeli citizens also remain unaccounted for.
WTOP News reports that Nepal’s Tourism Board spokesperson Sunil Sharma confirmed that at least five other tourists previously listed as missing had made contact with authorities by telephone or email in recent days, a small but meaningful sign that the missing count may continue to fall as communication is restored in remote areas.
The disaster has prompted a global humanitarian response, but aid workers warn that destroyed roads and bridges are making it extremely difficult to reach the worst-affected communities in Nepal’s mountain districts.
ALSO READ: Court Orders Sowore’s Arrest After Missing Cybercrime Trial
Nepal’s floods are a direct warning to Nigeria. The catastrophe was triggered by glacial melt accelerated by climate change, the same forces that are intensifying rainfall, coastal flooding, and river flooding across Nigeria every rainy season.
Nigeria’s death toll from flooding in recent years has repeatedly run into the hundreds, with communities in Anambra, Kogi, Benue, and Bayelsa among the hardest hit year after year.
The scenes on the Trishuli River could just as easily be on the banks of the Niger or the Benue, families grieving without bodies, communities flattened, infrastructure destroyed.
Nigeria must treat this as a mirror, not a distant tragedy. Investment in flood early warning systems, community evacuation planning, and climate-resilient infrastructure is not charity; it is survival.
