(LEAD) S. Korea to dispatch disaster relief team to Nepal to support flood recovery efforts

South Korea announced plans to send a disaster relief team to Nepal to aid in the recovery efforts following devastating floods. The Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), comprising 44 personnel from various agencies, including the foreign ministry and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), will depart for Nepal later on Tuesday aboard a military transport plane. The team will remain in Nepal for approximately 10 days, focusing on search and rescue operations, particularly for the nine South Koreans yet to be found.

The floods and subsequent mudslides struck Nepal's north-central Himalayan region near the Nepal-Tibet border last Wednesday, resulting in over 800 fatalities and around 3,000 people reported missing. Nepal's government had reached out to South Korea for assistance in conducting search and rescue operations in the affected areas, specifically in Rasuwa district. The KDRT is a designated emergency response unit tasked with providing disaster relief, medical assistance, and other support overseas, whenever needed.

This deployment follows a separate rapid response team that Nepal's government sent to Nepal last week, which has been actively involved in ground and aerial searches for the nine missing South Koreans. Those nine individuals were working at a hydroelectric power plant construction site in Rasuwa district when the floods hit. Earlier this week, South Korea pledged US$1 million in humanitarian aid to Nepal through international organizations in response to the disaster.