Photos: Nepal begins burying flood victims in mass graves

# Analysis The scale of Nepal's flooding catastrophe has surpassed the country's ability to observe longstanding cultural and religious practices, forcing a fundamental break from Hindu cremation traditions that typically govern death rituals across the region. Mass burials represent not merely a logistical failure but a compounding trauma for families unable to perform proper rites—a consequence that extends the disaster's psychological impact far beyond immediate mortality figures and complicates the grieving process for survivors. The resort to mass graves also signals severe infrastructure collapse: overwhelmed hospitals, insufficient morgue capacity, and inadequate burial sites suggest that death tolls may continue climbing as disease, malnutrition, and untreated injuries claim additional victims in the coming weeks. For Nepal's already-stretched government and international aid organizations, this breakdown indicates that responses must now prioritize disease prevention and water sanitation alongside search and rescue, or the secondary death toll could rival the initial flood damage.