(2nd LD) S. Korea to dispatch disaster relief team to Nepal to support flood recovery efforts

The South Korean disaster relief team is preparing to depart for Nepal on Tuesday evening to assist in the aftermath of severe floods that have wreaked havoc across the country. Formed by 44 individuals from various agencies including the foreign ministry and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) is set to take off in a KC-330 Cygnus multirole tanker transport aircraft.

Upon arrival in Nepal at 5:55 a.m. on Wednesday (local time), the team will bring along 700 pieces of equipment and five search-and-rescue dogs. Their mission will last approximately 10 days, during which they will perform search and rescue operations, primarily focusing on the nine South Koreans who are still unaccounted for. The KDRT may extend its deployment if necessary.

This will be the 12th deployment of the KDRT overseas. The recent floods and landslides, which struck Nepal's north-central Himalayan region near the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday, have claimed over 800 lives and left around 3,000 people missing. The deployment follows a request from the Nepali government for assistance in search and rescue operations in the affected Rasuwa district.

A separate rapid response team from South Korea had already arrived in Nepal last week and has been conducting ground and aerial searches for the nine missing South Koreans, who were working at a hydroelectric power plant construction site in Rasuwa when the disaster hit. One body has already been recovered from a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant, but the victim's identity and nationality remain unconfirmed.

The Nepalese army is considering an aerial search in collaboration with the Nepalese military, as well as the deployment of drones. Earlier this week, South Korea pledged US$1 million in humanitarian aid to Nepal through international organizations.