Sati Sigdel visits a hospital wall in Kathmandu every day, searching hundreds of photographs for any sign of her missing cousin after a catastrophic flood killed more than 1,200 people in Nepal.
The wall at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital has become a desperate information point for families searching for relatives missing since the disaster.
Photographs of missing people are displayed alongside images of recovered bodies whose identities have yet to be established.
“We put up her photo three days ago, but we still haven’t heard anything,” Sigdel said of her cousin, Sweety Paithan, who is among more than 4,200 people still missing.
The disaster was triggered by a glacier collapse that caused devastating flooding across parts of the mountainous country.
More than a week after the disaster, hopes of finding survivors are fading, although authorities continue large-scale search and rescue operations.
About 900 people are feared trapped in hydroelectric power plants, adding to the scale of the ongoing search.
At the hospital late Wednesday, families from across Nepal carefully examined photographs pinned to the wall, while some questioned guards about whether they had heard the names of their missing relatives.
“We’re hoping for a miracle,” said Sapna Neupane, who was searching for her maternal uncle and his family of four, all of whom remain missing. “It’s hard just to stand in front of this wall, looking at thousands of pictures.”
Some photographs are attached to detailed posters carrying information about the missing person and contact numbers for relatives.
Others contain handwritten notes beneath the images.
One photograph showed a couple standing together under the word “Missing”, while another featured a muscular young man with a close-up image of a tattoo on his left arm, apparently intended to aid identification.
For families, the wall has become a place where hope and grief meet, offering the possibility of finding a missing loved one while confronting the growing number of unidentified dead.
At the nearby Pashupatinath Temple, some families have begun traditional Hindu mourning rituals after abandoning hope of finding their relatives alive.
On the banks of the Bagmati River, families cremated straw effigies representing relatives whose bodies have not been recovered.
Tapindra Prasad Timalsina watched as a Hindu priest chanted prayers over an effigy representing his 21-year-old relative, Sabin.
“It weighs heavily on my heart,” Timalsina said before the effigy was set alight in a ritual normally performed for the dead.
For others, however, the search continues.
Sigdel has maintained her vigil since Monday, returning to the hospital with relatives and friends each day. “I come here every day with my relatives and friends, hoping for news.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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