Floods have broken out in the border region between Nepal and China's Tibet. According to the latest local reports, 469 people have died and 977 are missing, including 517 missing foreign nationals. Many foreign search and rescue teams have expressed willingness to help, but Nepal has politely declined. Government officials analyze that this may be related to the disaster relief experience following the 2015 earthquake.
The Kathmandu Post reported that officials from Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh had all proposed to send search and rescue teams, but the Nepalese government, under the advice of the military and police, decided to decline.
Officials said that this decision was made drawing from the experience of the 2015 Nepal earthquake. At that time, a large influx of foreign search and rescue teams led to coordination and resource management issues between countries. Nepal therefore believes that this time, the operation should be led by its own security agencies.
After hundreds of its citizens were reported missing or unaccounted for, India had requested to dispatch its National Disaster Response Force into Nepal, but this was also refused.
After assessment by the Nepalese government, it was decided that search and rescue operations would be led by the Nepalese Army and Nepalese police. Officials from Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the decision to refuse foreign search and rescue teams entering the country was related to the 2015 earthquake experience. At that time, a large number of international search and rescue teams arrived, which, while providing assistance, also caused serious issues with coordination and logistics, and even competition between teams from different countries, which in turn increased the burden on Nepalese authorities in managing disaster relief. Therefore, after evaluation, the army and police decided to politely decline help from foreign search and rescue teams.
Appealing to Countries for Financial Aid
Although Nepal has refused to allow foreign search and rescue teams to enter the disaster area directly, it still needs external assistance. The Nepalese government hopes that friendly countries and international partners will provide financial aid through a “single window” approach, so that foreign aid can be centrally managed. At present, some countries have already announced financial assistance, and others have also expressed willingness to help.