UAE announces $10 million aid for flood, landslide victims in Nepal

[Editor's Note: For the latest updates on the deadly flash flood along the Nepal-Tibet border, follow the Khaleej Times live blog . ]

The UAE has announced US$10 million aid to assist those affected by devastating floods and landslides in Nepal, which have led to hundreds of deaths, injuries and missing persons, as well as extensive damage.

The assistance comes under the directives of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and will be carried out through the UAE Aid Agency as part of its urgent humanitarian response.

Teams from the UAE Aid Agency are currently working with relevant local authorities and international organisations to ensure that relief assistance reaches all affected groups, including women, men and children.

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Dr Tareq Ahmed Al Amiri, Chairman of the UAE Aid Agency, emphasised the UAE’s leading role in urgent global humanitarian responses, driven by its commitment to human solidarity and international cooperation.

He underscored the importance of strengthening collective humanitarian efforts to provide relief and support to people in need and communities affected by natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies.

Hundreds killed in disaster

Rescuers searched for survivors in the debris-strewn valleys and hillsides of Nepal on Thursday while more than 1,000 people remained missing there and in neighbouring China after a wall of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a mountain river, triggering a catastrophic flash flood.

Authorities in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys in the wake of Wednesday's disaster, which swept down a route thronged by trekkers and pilgrims that links Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet.

Police said 359 had died, with dozens of bodies swept down into the plains from where they were being recovered.

Nepal's disaster management authority warned of a potential new flood risk along the Bhotekoshi river after satellite images and preliminary analysis indicated that the river had been blocked and a lake had formed at the site of Wednesday's flood.

The lake is rising and could burst, the authority said, urging residents and rescuers along the lower banks of the river to move to safe areas away from the river.

Nepal's Home Minister Sudhan Gurung said the focus remained on finding survivors as rescue teams located 100 missing Indian visitors, mostly pilgrims, and 25 Chinese workers in the worst-hit region around Trishuli. Nearly 550 foreigners were still unaccounted for while Nepali authorities were yet to determine the number of locals missing.

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