‘Nepal needs help in technical areas, not search and rescue’

Nepal needs foreign help in specialised and technical areas in which it does not have expertise in the aftermath of the devastating flood that hit its Himalayan border with China this week, but not in search and rescue, its foreign minister told Reuters.

A glacier collapse on Wednesday unleashed a huge torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris through Himalayan Mountain river systems, killing more than 600 people in Nepal and China’s Tibet, with more than 2,000 still unaccounted for.

The flood tore through areas near the Chinese border, levelling entire towns and damaging hydropower plants.

The Kathmandu Post reported that India, China, the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had asked the government to allow their search-and-rescue teams to assist in the operation.

Shisir Khanal said Kathmandu needs foreign help in areas such as rescuing people stuck in tunnels, opening transport and communication services in places where bridges have been destroyed, identification of dead bodies, DNA testing and storing bodies for longer durations.

“We have already made requests for such specialised services and technical assistance in areas where we don’t have enough expertise and technical knowhow,” Khanal said late on Friday.

Giant neighbours India and China, between whom the poor Himalayan country is wedged, have been requested for bailey bridges to reopen early transport and communication in a disaster-hit area where about two dozen bridges had been destroyed.

Earlier on Friday, Nepal’s foreign ministry had said that Kathmandu could manage the rescue efforts on its own for now and declined foreign involvement.

Asked about that stance of his government, Khanal said there was no need for assistance in general search and rescue which was being done by Nepali rescuers.

“We think there is no need for repetition in this,” he said.

Related video| The death toll in Nepal has risen to 547: “HOSPITALS OVERWHELMED BY BODIES” Rescue officials in Nepal said many bodies have been washed away and recovered from Chitwan and Nawalparasi in the plains, about 100 km (60 miles) from ground zero.

More bodies are likely to be recovered from these places where hospitals have been overwhelmed with dead bodies and lack refrigerators to store them, Khanal said.

Nepalese officials said the flood has caused extensive damage to school buildings, hospitals, hydroelectric plants, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Nepal would need foreign support in the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the future, they said.