Many Nepalis swept away in the floods aren't officially dead, leaving families in limbo
Relatives are finding themselves with no compensation and facing an administrative nightmare.
At the UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Balen Shah explained rebuilding the country would require more than 10% of its gross domestic product, an enormous burden on the country's economy.
Dozens of public buildings including schools, health clinics and hospitals have been wrecked by the floods. That's in addition to roads, bridges, wastewater treatment plants and hydropower projects.
Shah is now pushing for grant-based international support rather than new loans. Nepal is one of the lowest emitters of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet one one of the most vulnerable countries to global warming.
"When a climate-driven disaster destroys infrastructure of a poor country, the answer cannot simply be another mega-loan or a patchwork of small grants," he told a room full of world leaders.
This is not the first time Nepal has had to recover after a devastating natural disaster.
For Tisum Ghale, the past month has been painfully familiar.
He and his family lost their home in an earthquake in 2015, and became displaced for months. They eventually settled in Betrawati.
But the place that was once a refuge is where 19 of his relatives were killed in last month's flood, including five of his sisters. He survived because he was doing construction work outside of the village.
So far he has received no compensation. He desperately needs the money after his home was washed away and he looks after eight children left behind by his sisters. He is one of the thousands displaced, living across 37 holding centres in northern Nepal.
Like Lawati and thousands of other families, Ghale plans on holding a funeral without his loved ones' bodies.
He hopes the law will eventually recognise what he already knows: his loved ones will not be coming home.
