Nepal has rejected offers from several countries to deploy foreign search-and-rescue teams following devastating flash floods that swept through several towns, killing nearly 500 people and leaving hundreds of foreign nationals missing.
Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the country was capable of handling the rescue operation without external assistance, despite requests from countries including South Korea, India, China, the United States, Britain, Japan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to send specialist teams.
“The offer for help is natural. Our security agencies are doing the search and rescue operation. For now we don’t require such help,” Lok Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for Nepal’s Foreign Ministry, said without providing further details.
The floods devastated areas including Rasuwa district near the Chinese border, destroying entire towns, damaging hydropower projects and killing close to 500 people.
Hundreds of foreign nationals remain unaccounted for, including South Koreans. Seoul said it had already sent a response team to Nepal and planned to dispatch a disaster relief team.
However, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Nepal had indicated that it was not yet planning to accept foreign rescue teams.
“South Korea will keep negotiating with Nepal over the matter,” the ministry added.
South Korea has also pledged $1 million in humanitarian assistance through international organisations, according to its foreign minister, who announced the commitment on X.
Nine South Koreans working at a hydropower plant were reported missing, while another 10 were stranded, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The Kathmandu Post reported that India, China, the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had asked Nepal’s government to allow their search-and-rescue teams to assist with the operation.
Dinesh Bhattarai, a former Nepali ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, suggested that the government’s reluctance to accept foreign rescue teams could be connected to the sensitivity of Rasuwa district, which borders China’s Tibet region.
“They may have thought about the locational sensitivity of the region and decided not to accept foreign teams,” Bhattarai told Reuters.
Chhetri, however, rejected that explanation, saying the decision was unrelated to China and was instead based on Nepal’s assessment that its own rescue teams were capable of managing the operation.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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