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Nepal has suspended all non-emergency search and rescue operations 40 days after devastating floods hit the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers on August 26, shifting its focus to reconstruction and rehabilitation in the affected areas.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Council for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management chaired by Prime Minister Balendra Shah, according to a report by the Times of India.
The floods have so far killed 1,455 people, while 5,285 remain missing. Among the missing are 189 Indian nationals, along with several people of Indian origin holding foreign passports.
The decision to suspend non-essential search and rescue operations was based on recommendations from district disaster management committees, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) and teams that inspected the flood-hit areas.
The meeting also recommended allocating 559 billion Nepalese rupees for 504 reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes submitted by various ministries and agencies. The NDRRMA was tasked with arranging additional funding for projects whose costs have yet to be determined.
According to the latest data from Nepal’s Department of Tourism, 606 foreign tourists from 36 countries remain missing following the floods. Indians account for the highest number at 189, followed by 65 Americans, 55 Malaysians, 54 Ukrainians, 37 Chinese, 33 each from Australia and Latvia, 32 Britons and 30 Canadians.
A total of 188 Nepali tourists are also reported missing.
Separate data compiled by different Indian states show that the missing Indians include 85 from Tamil Nadu, 37 from West Bengal, 30 from Gujarat, 25 from Telangana, 22 from Uttar Pradesh, 13 each from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and 12 from Bihar. More than 10 people from Maharashtra and four from Odisha are also missing.
The Nepal government is now prioritising efforts to locate missing people while accelerating the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and rehabilitation of those affected by the floods.