A month after severe floods devastated parts of Nepal, thousands of people are still missing, and families are struggling with the long road to recovery. The floods have placed a heavy burden on the government, which now faces a costly and complex recovery process. Families are dealing with the loss of loved ones, homes, and livelihoods. According to Nepal’s disaster management agency, 1,453 bodies have been recovered, while 5,644 people remain missing. Only 112 of the recovered bodies have been handed over to families, and 1,333 are temporarily buried while waiting for identification. In nearby China, officials reported that 261 foreign nationals are among the missing. At the Nepal Police Hospital in Kathmandu, tents have been set up for relatives to provide DNA samples to help identify the dead. Authorities are comparing these samples with DNA collected from the recovered remains. While laboratory officials have not shared details due to privacy concerns, they have mentioned that experts from India, China, the United States, Singapore, and South Korea are assisting with the identification process. Nepal’s Prime Minister, Balendra Shah, used his first address to the United Nations General Assembly to highlight the floods as a warning about the increasing climate risks in the Himalayan region. “The disaster was not just a local tragedy, but a warning to the world,” Shah said. “I ask you today: Have we really heard that warning?” He also called for more international support for Nepal’s recovery and stronger regional cooperation to prepare for future climate-related disasters. “Climate change does not recognize borders. Glaciers and floods do not travel with stamps and passports,” he said. Rabi Kumar Thapa Magar, a hydropower worker who lost his wife, brother, sister-in-law, and mother in the floods, said he identified his wife from a photo of the dead. However, authorities had already buried her body before the family could see it. They declined to release the body until a DNA match could be confirmed, a process that will take at least a month. The family later performed symbolic final rites using an effigy. Pasang Maya Tamang, 32, who lost her young son in the floods, said she still dreams of him pleading for help. “The body of my son has been recovered, but I was not able to see him for the last time. I am very sad about that. I hear in my dreams him saying why I left him alone,” she said at a shelter home in Nuwakot. Her son had gone to school with a neighbor when the flood hit. By the time she learned what had happened, the school had already been swept away. His body was recovered three days later in a southern district, but she was unable to travel there to see him. The floods hit on August 26, around the time students were arriving at schools or heading there. Some children’s bodies were later recovered still wearing ties with their school’s logo, said Asta Man Dangol, a resident of Nuwakot. “The older students were able to run uphill and escape, but the little ones who were not able to run fast ... were swept away,” he said. The Nepal government estimates that the cost of reconstruction and recovery will be $4.77 billion. Nearly 33,000 people have been affected, and about 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed. The recovery efforts are now focused on restoring roads and bridges cut off by the floods, particularly in remote areas where damaged infrastructure has made it difficult to deliver aid. Ishmita Shah, a roads engineer, said crews have been working with Nepal’s army since the second day after the floods to reopen routes in affected areas. Shah said bridges are being built to improve access to the worst-affected areas and make it easier to transport relief supplies. However, the work remains difficult, with more bad weather expected in the coming days. “The upcoming few days are going to be very challenging because of the weather, but we are fully prepared for that too,” she said.