The decision, taken this week after about 40 days of searching, has divided families still waiting for news of relatives swept away when floodwaters tore through the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river system. At least 1,455 people have been confirmed dead and 13,795 rescued, according to authorities.
Officials said active searches for bodies would cease, although remains, belongings and valuables discovered during reconstruction work would still be recovered. Emergency rescue operations would also continue whenever necessary.
Phanindra Paudel, chief of the National Emergency Operation Centre, said the government was moving from search and rescue to rehabilitation and was beginning the legal process needed to address the status of people who remain missing. Formal recognition of death is crucial for families seeking insurance payments, accessing bank accounts, claiming compensation or settling inheritance matters.
The decision has brought anger for some families who say the absence of a body or other firm evidence leaves them unable to abandon hope. Usha Khatri, who has searched several communities along the river for her missing husband and examined photographs of recovered bodies, said authorities should provide his body or convincing proof of his death before declaring him dead.
Mahesh Shrestha, whose brother worked as an engineer at a hydropower plant struck by the floods, has also urged authorities to keep searching, saying his family does not accept that the effort should stop while thousands remain missing.
Other relatives have reached a different point after weeks of uncertainty. Nirajan Poudel, who lost five family members, said his family now believed none had survived and wanted closure. Some families have held symbolic funerals without recovered bodies, while seeking official death certificates required for legal and financial procedures.
The government has been considering changes or legal procedures needed to declare missing victims dead. Families have said the lack of certificates has complicated compensation, insurance and inheritance claims, adding an administrative burden to grief and displacement.
The National Council for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management decided to wind up the broad search operation as the government prepares a large reconstruction programme. Authorities have proposed hundreds of recovery and rebuilding projects costing about 559 billion Nepalese rupees, while broader estimates have put reconstruction and recovery needs at about $4.77 billion.
Nearly 33,000 people were affected by the disaster and roughly 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed. Floodwaters also wrecked roads, bridges, farms, settlements and 12 hydropower projects, leaving some communities difficult to reach and complicating relief deliveries.
The floods began near Nepal’s border with China’s Tibet region and surged downstream through mountain valleys, with Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading among the hardest-hit districts. The scale of destruction prompted a major deployment of security personnel, aircraft and rescue teams, including assistance directed towards hydropower sites and isolated settlements.
Hundreds of foreign nationals are among those still missing. Government figures issued during the response showed tourists and other visitors from dozens of countries among the unaccounted for, adding an international dimension to identification and family-notification efforts.
Hope that more people might be found alive had briefly strengthened in early September after workers trapped underground were rescued from hydropower facilities. Two Nepali workers were brought out alive from the Upper Trishuli 3A tunnel on September 4, followed by the rescue of a Chinese national from another tunnel the next day.
Those rescues came more than a week after the flood and encouraged families to press for sustained searches. As the operation continued, however, teams increasingly focused on recovering bodies and identifying remains through DNA samples, while damaged transport links and heavy debris hampered access to affected areas.
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