The Balen Shah-led govt has decided that Nepali security agencies should lead the operation
Nepal has declined offers from several countries to deploy search and rescue teams after devastating flash floods killed at least 469 people and left hundreds missing, saying its own security agencies are capable of handling the operation. The decision was partly based on Nepal’s experience after the 2015 earthquake, when the arrival of numerous foreign rescue teams created coordination and management difficulties, according to the report. Nepal Police said on Friday that 469 people had died, while 1,545 people had been rescued and injured. Nearly 1,000 people remain missing, according to disaster authorities, with 28 police personnel also unaccounted for. Nepal Police has deployed 4,348 personnel for search and rescue operations. Authorities have rescued 644 people from Rasuwa, 898 from Nuwakot and three from Dhading.
India, China, the US, UK, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were among those that sought to assist with search and rescue, the newspaper reported. India had also requested permission to deploy its National Disaster Response Force after hundreds of its citizens were reported missing.
Nepal’s foreign ministry has received multiple official and unofficial requests from countries and international organisations seeking to send their own rescue personnel, according to The Kathmandu Post. Officials, however, said the government had decided that Nepali security agencies should lead the operation. The decision comes as rescue teams continue to search through mud and debris following Wednesday’s flash flood along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river systems near the Nepal-China border. Nepal declined the request. The scale of the disaster remains immense.