India Declares 5,748 Missing in Himalayan Floods

Manan Vatsyayana/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images A poster of a missing person at the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on June 21.

NEW DELHI - A month after massive flash floods struck the northern state of Uttarakhand, the state’s chief minister said Monday that officials will begin distributing relief funds to the families of the 5,748 declared missing.

The chief minister, Vijay Bahuguna, said last week that those who had not been found by July 15 would be declared dead, which would entitle their families to compensation of 500,000 rupees ($8,300).

However, Mr. Bahuguna said Monday in the state capital, Dehradun, that Uttarakhand was not issuing any death certificates. “We are only giving some monetary help to the family,” he said.

Families seeking compensation will have to swear in an affidavit that their relatives were lost in Uttarakhand during the floods and will be legally bound to return the amount they will receive as compensation if the missing person was found.

The search for the missing continues, Mr. Bahuguna said. “It is a big nightmare for us,” he said. “But there is always hope against hope. Let us pray that they are alive somewhere.”

The official death toll stands at 580. The flash floods affected all 13 districts of Uttarakhand on June 16-17, at the peak season for pilgrims and tourists. Out of those still missing, 4,824 are from out of state.

The Kedarnath shrine and Kedar Valley experienced the worst damage and casualties in the state. Shambhu Prasad Purohit of Devli Bhani village in Rudraprayag district lost his 62-year-old elder brother and four nephews, ages between 28 to 32 years. They all were near the Kedarnath shrine on the morning of June 17.

Mr. Purohit’s village lost 55 people, all in Kedar Valley. “Widows are crying; kids are weeping all over the village,” said Mr. Purohit by phone from his village. “All these people used to work for six months in Kedarnath and in Kedar Valley during the season. For rest of the six months they will eat that income. There are no job opportunities in the village,” he said.

Mr. Purohit’s family is one of the traditional priests of Kedarnath shrine, and they also used to run a shop of worship items and a dharamshala (charity accommodation for pilgrims) near the shrine.

Ram Swarup Yadav, 37, of Jaipur, who runs a dairy, lost seven of his relatives including his aunt, uncle and cousin. “There is a very slim ray of hope now,” he said by phone from Jaipur. “Miracles happen sometime. A faith healer told me to be hopeful.”

European Pressphoto Agency A man holding pictures of his family members on June 25 who went missing in the floods in Uttarakhand.

The authorities evacuated 108,653 people by air or foot. More than 70 helicopters from the military and more than 10,000 troops from various forces worked day and night for 25 days in rescue operations. One air force helicopter crashed in narrow, steep Kedar Valley, killing 20 on board.

Now the big challenge for the authorities is to reconstruct the villages, which have lost their main source of income as tourists have stayed away from the entire state after the floods.

Mr. Bahuguna said a total of 250 villages would be completely rebuilt. “We will prepare a model village considering all the factors like seismic zone and local requirement and then replicate that model in all the villages,” he said.