Nepal has declined offers of foreign assistance for search-and-rescue operations in the wake of a devastating flash flood that killed close to 500 people, according to its foreign ministry. The flood, which swept through several towns, including those in the Rasuwa district near the Chinese border, has also damaged hydropower projects and left hundreds of foreign nationals missing.
Despite the offers of help from countries such as India, China, the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, Nepal's foreign ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri stated on Friday that the nation's security agencies are managing the efforts. "For now we don’t require such help," Chhetri said, without providing further details.
South Korea, which has nationals among the missing, indicated that Nepal had conveyed it was not yet planning to accept foreign rescue teams. "South Korea will keep negotiating with Nepal over the matter," the South Korean foreign ministry stated. Seoul has pledged $1 million in humanitarian assistance through international organizations.
Nine South Koreans working at a hydropower plant were reported missing, and 10 were stranded, according to South Korea's foreign ministry.
Rescuers evacuate a person from a tunnel of a hydropower project in the aftermath of flash floods and a mudslide in Rasuwa, Nepal, on Friday.
Dinesh Bhattarai, a former Nepali ambassador to the United Nations, suggested that the government's hesitation to accept foreign teams might be related to the geopolitical sensitivity of the flood-hit Rasuwa district, which borders China's Tibet region. However, Chhetri refuted this, stating the decision was not linked to China's sensitivities and that Nepal's own rescue teams were capable of handling the operation.
Construction workers run for their lives as a colossal torrent of water barrels toward them in the Nepal-Tibet border region of the Himalayas on Wednesday.
