At the Pashupatinath temple, on the banks of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Madan Lal Lawat joined other families in honouring loved ones who were lost when a deadly flood tore through the China-Nepal border last month.
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flood → join → border
In Hindu tradition, when a body cannot be recovered, a symbolic effigy is made from sacred "kusha" grass to represent the dead, allowing relatives to perform last rites.
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relatives → recover → rites
With more than 5,000 people still missing and the government ending rescue operations, this is the only way people like Lawat can honour the dead.
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people → miss → dead
Five of his relatives - including his brother - were caught in the water's onslaught and are still missing.
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Five → include → onslaught
Lawat survived because he was driving his bus outside his village, Betrawati.
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he → survive → village
The last Lawat heard from survivors is that his brother Mangal died while going door-to-door, trying to warn others to leave.
"I don't know how to start over.
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I → hear → others
Police say they're still searching for the bodies, but I'm not sure they'll ever be found," Lawat says.
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Lawat → say → bodies
He has little doubt they are dead.
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they → have → doubt
In Nepal, a missing person is only presumed dead after 12 years.
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person → miss → years
Section 40 of Nepal's Civil Code does allow for some exceptions, but it does not have a provision for disasters like the flood witnessed last month.
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it → allow → flood
Families like Lawat's have told the BBC they are struggling to obtain death certificates, affecting everything from accessing flood compensation to the transfer of properties and even inheritance.
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they → tell → properties
Relatives can receive up to 25,000 rupees (£122; $162) for funeral costs, in addition to about 200,000 rupees (£981; $1,302) in bereavement compensation for the first relative who died, and 100,000 rupees (£491; $651) for each additional death.
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who → receive → death
But this is only possible once they submit a death certificate.
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they → submit → certificate
So as families try to rebuild their lives, many are now caught in an administrative nightmare.
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many → try → nightmare
"In view of the current disaster, the law is outdated," says constitutional law expert, Bipin Adhikari.
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expert → say → disaster
He explains the law was meant to account for people who travelled abroad and weren't heard from for years.
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who → explain → years
"But technology has advanced now, it isn't as difficult to send or receive information," he argues.
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he → advance → information
For Lawat, the legal minefield has made an already devastating loss even harder to navigate.
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loss → make → Lawat
When he tried to obtain a death certificate last week, officials at the local municipality office turned him away.
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officials → try → him
"They said they're still discussing the death certificate issue.
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they → say → issue
We aren't sure what to do now.
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We → do → what
There's so much uncertainty," he tells us.
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he → be → us
Even when bodies are recovered, identifying their identities is a slow and challenging task.
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identifying → recover → identities
More than 1,400 bodies have been recovered so far, and Nepal has little experience in processing DNA at such scale.
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Nepal → recover → scale
In some cases, authorities have taken DNA samples, then buried the bodies with markers in the ground, should families claim them.
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families → take → them
Given the scale of damage and loss, families say compensation is desperately needed.
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compensation → give → damage
Nepal's latest assessment counts 7,570 private buildings damaged or destroyed, home to nearly 33,000 people based on census data.
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assessment → count → data
The BBC visited Lawat's village Betrawati just days after the disaster, once the roads to the district of Rasuwa had been cleared.
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roads → visit → Rasuwa
For days, this area had been cut off from the capital Kathmandu, and struggling with a shortage of basic supplies including petrol.
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area → cut → petrol
The ground was nothing but hardened mud and silt.
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ground → harden → mud
Footage of the flood showed it had swallowed most of the village in just minutes.
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it → show → minutes
There was no sign of its bustling market, the local Uttargaya School was in ruins, the houses swept away, and school buses were turned over.
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buses → be → ruins
Betrawati straddles flood-devastated Rasuwa and Nuwakot, and is part of the Bidur municipality, where the government estimates more than 3,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
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buildings → straddle → municipality
Local governments are now urging the prime minister's office to figure out a way to resolve the death confirmation issue.
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governments → urge → issue
"Everything is on hold," Bidur's Mayor, Rajan Shrestha, told the BBC.
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Mayor → tell → BBC
He said it could take up to 12 years for relatives to access the funds they are entitled to.
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they → say → funds
For one of South Asia's smallest economies, finding money for compensation is a challenge, and the sums on offer are small when compared with the scale of the losses.
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sums → find → losses
The government puts damage to personal belongings alone at £123 million ($165 million) across more than 8,300 households.
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government → put → households
This implies losses of about £14,800 ($20,000) on average per household, though this figure is only based on census data and modelling, and doesn't represent the exact cost per family.
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figure → imply → family
The financial toll makes the death certificates vital for families trying to recover from the disaster.
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certificates → make → disaster
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
