The South Korean government said on the 1st that it has decided to dispatch the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) to flood-stricken areas of Nepal.
The KDRT is deployed in response to large-scale overseas disasters, drawing personnel from government ministries and related agencies to provide disaster relief, search and rescue, and medical assistance to affected countries. It has previously been sent to the 2023 earthquake in Turkey, the 2018 dam collapse in Laos and the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
The dispatch follows a request from the Nepalese government for an emergency relief team to support search and rescue operations, as damage mounts from flooding that struck the Rasuwa district on the 26th of last month. The South Korean government had earlier announced $1 million in humanitarian aid through international organizations operating in the country to help respond to the flooding.
The team will be led by Lee Kyu-ho, director-general of the Development Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and comprises 44 members from the ministry, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the National Fire Agency. The team plans to depart for Nepal tonight aboard a military transport aircraft.
