Nepal national day of mourning: Relatives of missing victims stage protests

Nepal is in a state of mourning. 1,398 people. They have been killed. The anxiety is over. More than 5,000 who are still missing. And for the families of those unaccounted for, this weight is torturous. Because they do not know what's happening, where their loved ones are. They don't know whether they are alive. On Monday, Nepal observed a national day of mourning. Flags flew at half-mast. Candlelight vigils were planned as the country marked the 13th day after those flash floods struck. As per the Hindu prayer rituals after last rites. But this is not just a country grieving. It's a country still searching, that desperate hunt for survivors. Nepal has intensified knowing that time is running out. Hundreds of hydropower workers are among those missing. Many feared trapped inside those tunnels. I have had to hold myself together a lot here. I am doing the task that was supposed to be done by my son. I am compelled to do it, the rituals, and I am doing them forcefully. Actually, I was supposed to die, but it was my son who passed away. Now I have two grandchildren left, a boy and a girl. Nepal army spokesman meanwhile said the rescue teams were continuing at the same tempo, determined to ensure that no one was still stranded. But then the scale of the destruction is staggering. Entire communities have been swept away. Roads have disappeared. Homes have been destroyed. The foreign ministry office saying that over 13,100 people have been rescued so far. And while the rescue teams continue their work, the anguish outside the disaster zones is growing as well. But these relief and rescue operations are unable to calm the agony among those who haven't heard about their loved ones till now. The relatives of those still missing gathered in Kathmandu meanwhile, holding photographs of their loved ones and demanding answers. They said they were frustrated by the lack of information and urged the government to step up the search. We have come here to appeal to the government to rescue my brother. We still haven't received any news about him. They keep saying that the rescue operation is ongoing, but if they are really carrying out the rescue, where is the result? We have gone from one place to another and we are exhausted. We came here because we had no other option. So we urged the government to rescue him as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the Nepalese president visited the relief camps in our core district, meeting families who have lost their homes in what his office has described as unprecedented flooding. And as the scale of the disaster becomes clearer, the country's mortuary is also struggling to keep pace. Police say hundreds of bodies have been buried in mass graves, but DNA samples have been collected to ensure that the victims can be identified later. Also, what makes this tragedy even more striking and poignant is its timing. Nepal is confronting this catastrophe just ahead of the anniversary of last year's September 8 and 9 anti-corruption protests that brought down the government. It's a bitter irony that this country is still reeling from political upheaval, now faces a natural catastrophe of this magnitude.