Nepal only accepting goods, not rescue personnel, says Khaled

Defence Minister Khaled Nordin disclosed that Nepal has decided to accept only goods as aid, rather than foreign rescue personnel, following the recent floods and landslides in Rasuwa district near Tibet border on August 26. Khaled stated that this policy is likely to prevent coordination issues arising from the involvement of numerous foreign rescue teams, as reported by Utusan Malaysia.

Nepal's Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) remains prepared for deployment at any given moment, according to Khaled, who made these remarks during an event with the Reserve Officer Training Unit (Palapes) at Universiti Malaysia Perlis. He further explained that Nepal has explicitly declined rescue teams, fearing that a multitude of teams could lead to chaos if sent together.

However, Nepal is open to accepting goods that may be required in the situation. Khaled's response addressed the query about the possibility of Malaysia deploying its Armed Forces assets to assist in locating the remaining missing Malaysians following the disaster. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had previously announced that Malaysia would send SMART to Nepal.

Initially, Nepal had turned down offers from foreign search-and-rescue teams, asserting that its own rescuers were equipped to manage the operations. This stance was later changed due to diplomatic pressure.