Nepal does not need foreign assistance for search-and-rescue operations following the devastating flash flood that swept through several towns, its foreign ministry said on Friday, despite offers of help from several countries with nationals missing in the disaster.
But Nepal’s foreign ministry said on Friday that it was managing the rescue efforts. “The offer for help is natural. Our security agencies are doing the search and rescue operation.
Seoul has pledged $1 million in humanitarian assistance through international organisations, its foreign minister said on X. Nine South Koreans working in a hydropower plant were missing, and 10 were stranded, South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
For now we don’t require such help,” Lok Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said without providing further details. South Korea’s foreign ministry said Nepal had indicated it was not yet planning to accept foreign rescue teams.
Dinesh Bhattarai, a former Nepali ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said the government’s reluctance to accept foreign search-and-rescue teams may be linked to the sensitivity of flood-hit Rasuwa district, which borders China’s Tibet region.
