Nepal floods leave 1300 dead and 5000 missing as nation mourns and search for 36 Australians continues

Nepal has fallen silent for a national day of mourning as families mark 13 days since catastrophic floods tore through the Himalayas, killing more than 1300 people and leaving thousands more missing.

Flags were lowered to half-mast at government offices on Monday as families completed traditional Hindu mourning rituals for those killed in the August 26 disaster.

But for thousands of families, there is still no body to farewell.

About 5000 people remain missing across Nepal and Tibet, including foreigners, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency, as increasingly desperate relatives demand more be done to find their loved ones.

Several families performed symbolic funerals on Monday despite their relatives remaining missing, allowing them to complete important final rites without their bodies.

In predominantly Hindu Nepal, mourning traditionally lasts 13 days, with rituals performed on the final day to pray for the souls of the dead.

But while the country mourned, anger was also growing.

Families gathered near government offices in Kathmandu demanding authorities ramp up search efforts, particularly around devastated hydropower projects where hundreds of workers remain unaccounted for.

Sumana Shrestha has not heard from her 55-year-old husband since the flood buried the two-and-a-half-storey building where he worked at the Trishuli hydropower plant.

“We are here because we have not heard of any rescue attempt on this project, but it has been 13 days already,” she said.

“The only thing we have been able to do is pray to God and hope for a miracle.”

Authorities say rescue operations are focused on 12 hydropower projects, where about 900 workers are missing and roughly 500 are believed to be trapped inside tunnels.

Teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States are searching debris, damaged buildings and tunnels, with glimmers of hope emerging in recent days.

Two Nepalese workers were pulled alive from a hydropower tunnel on Friday, while a Chinese man was rescued on Saturday.

Among those still desperately waiting for news are Australian families.

Newcastle father-of-two Bhavin Patel has spent almost two weeks searching for his wife Reshma, a Sydney council worker who disappeared while returning from a walking tour in Tibet.

He has chartered a helicopter, tracked her last phone signal and repeatedly approached authorities for information.

“She is my life,” Mr Patel told AAP.

“I am not going without her.”

Reshma was travelling back towards Kathmandu with the Isha Foundation when an immigration building near the Nepal-Tibet border was overwhelmed by the flood.

Mr Patel later flew over the site, seeing exposed earth where the building had stood, but was unable to land because of dangerous terrain.

“I felt like... if they give me permission to land, I might rescue her,” he said.

He is now calling for Australia to pressure Beijing for greater co-operation and information from the Chinese-controlled Tibetan side of the border.

“I can feel she’s alive, that she’s safe somewhere,” he said.

“Our government is trying, but it’s not enough.”

A group of Australian families has also called for greater transparency from tour operators and authorities as 36 Australians remain among the missing.

Australia has deployed a disaster assistance response team and specialist resources to Kathmandu and committed $11 million to the response.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the agonising wait facing families on Monday.

“This is now very much a race against time,” Mr Albanese told Parliament.

- With AAP