Nepal's hesitance to accept foreign help for flood relief under scrutiny

Nepal is facing criticism for its hesitance to accept foreign help in the aftermath of severe flash floods near the Nepal-China border. A group of private sector power producers in Nepal claims that authorities lost crucial time in rescuing hundreds of people trapped in hydropower tunnels, according to NPR.

Singapore has offered humanitarian assistance to Nepal, including supplies and personnel. The Singapore Police Force will deploy officers specializing in Disaster Victim Identification at Nepal's request, and civilian and Singapore Armed Forces supplies will also be delivered. This assistance is in addition to Singapore's US$100,000 contribution to the Singapore Red Cross' public fundraising appeal for relief efforts in Nepal, which has raised about S$1 million to date.

The Singaporean Foreign Ministry has been in touch with its Nepalese counterpart, and a Crisis Response Team has been deployed to Nepal since August 27 to provide consular assistance to affected Singaporeans.

The death toll from the floods and mudslides has risen to at least 9, and 590 foreign nationals from 39 different countries remain unaccounted for, according to Nepal's Foreign Ministry. So far, 323 foreign nationals have been rescued.

Brief written by urgent.news from NPR, New Straits Times, Malay Mail, Arutz Sheva - Israel National News — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.