A week after flash floods killed over 1,000 people and left thousands missing in the Nepal-China border region on 26/8, Nepalese families are holding symbolic "soul liberation" funerals for their deceased or missing relatives.

Relatives of victims await cremation ceremonies at Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu on 2/9.

For victims whose bodies have not been recovered, families create straw effigies to perform Hindu cremation rituals at Pashupatinath temple.

"We must do this to free his soul, so he may find peace and happiness wherever he is," Dolma Newar Tamang said at her husband's funeral, as her son wept beside her.

Grieving relatives mourn the deceased at a prayer ceremony in a Buddhist monastery in Trishuli Bazar, Nuwakot district.

Police are collecting DNA samples from victims' relatives at the Nepal Police Hospital in Panipokhari, Kathmandu. Hundreds of people are queuing to provide DNA for identifying loved ones among hundreds of bodies. Due to overwhelmed morgues, some bodies have already been buried.

"It has been a week since my father lost contact, so I am here to provide a DNA sample," said 21-year-old Susmita Lo, holding her two-year-old nephew whose father is also missing. "At night, he keeps calling for his father, but we haven't dared to tell him his father is missing. He is too young."

The Nepal Army has installed a temporary cable line, approximately 250 meters long, in Bidur, offering a precarious crossing over the swollen river after the floods.

Desperate residents gathered on the riverbanks, awaiting their turn to be pulled across. Those requiring urgent medical treatment, medication, food, and other necessities are transported via this cable line.

"My house was swept away by the flood, and my family is in an evacuation center," said Sujan, 44, a chef who returned to Nepal from Amsterdam.

Unable to hire a helicopter, he came to the cable crossing point, hoping to reunite with his wife, two children, and elderly mother.

This is the first of five temporary cable lines to be installed along the Trishuli river in flood-affected areas. Rescue forces are searching for both survivors and the deceased, while helicopters continuously transport food, tents, and medicine to those who lost everything in the disaster.

For Bhishma Bhatta, 40, there was no time to wait. His mother, Tulkumaari (fourth from right), experienced severe breathing difficulties during the night, and the family's oxygen supply had run out.

"We managed to get her onto the cable line and transferred her to the hospital," he said.

Rescue teams check a house for missing persons in Nuwakot district.

Om Bahadur wipes away tears while sitting outside his house, where all possessions were swept away by the flood in Baireni, Dhading district.

Displaced residents search for salvageable items.

Rescue teams and security forces are conducting helicopter search and rescue operations in affected areas of Syabrubesi Bazar and Betrawoti, Rasuwa district.

Rasuwa district was the first and most severely affected by the flash floods. Government official Dhruba Prasad Adhikari stated residents face an "unimaginable disaster." "This flood is much larger than anything we could have imagined," he said.

A woman and her two-month-old child await evacuation after the Nepal Army rescued them from the Dhunche area in Rasuwa district.

Across the Nepal border, Chinese rescue forces are clearing debris and restoring traffic to the Gyirong border crossing, which was submerged by flash floods on 26/8. Traffic was restored on the afternoon of 2/9 after "several days of continuous repairs," according to Chinese state media.

As of 2/9, China reported 21 dead and 541 missing. Nepal had found 1,204 bodies and recorded 4,216 missing.

A week after the disaster, the total recorded dead reached 1,225, with 4,757 people still missing. Over 800 foreign nationals from more than 30 countries are among the missing, including 583 in Nepal and 261 in China.

Hong Hanh (Photos: AFP, AP)