Nepal Finally Accepts Foreign Aid for Flash Flood Evacuation
The Nepalese government has finally rescinded its previous decision and officially permitted aid from other countries for rescue operations following the catastrophic floods that struck the region. The move was taken amid significant pressure from the international community after the disaster claimed hundreds of lives.
According to a report by the Kathmandu Post on Saturday (29/8/2026), a senior government official revealed that the change in stance was prompted by pressure from countries whose citizens were among those missing in the disaster.
Previously, on Friday (28/8), Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Lok Bahadur Chhetri, had stated that the country did not require foreign assistance for search and rescue operations. However, the high complexity of the evacuation effort changed that policy.
“We received significant pressure from the international community to allow at least search and rescue teams and a number of experts. We ultimately allowed a limited number of experts in certain areas,” the official said.
Nepal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shisir Khanal, explained that the presence of foreign experts is crucial to assist local rescue teams, particularly in the process of identifying bodies. This is being done so that authorities can promptly hand over victims to their respective families.
To date, several parties such as the United Nations, the European Union, and a number of donor countries have channelled financial assistance to help restore massive infrastructure damage.
The disaster began on Wednesday (26/8) when extremely strong water currents struck the Bhote Koshi River in Nepal’s mountainous region. Initially, the major flood was suspected to have been triggered by an earthquake and subsequent landslides.
However, based on data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on Thursday (27/8), the recorded seismic activity was actually caused by a massive glacier collapse, not by underground tectonic vibrations.
Search operations are now being intensified with the involvement of international technical assistance to accelerate handling in the worst-affected zones. The Nepalese government has successfully evacuated 184 foreign tourists following the Bhote Koshi River flash flood. A further 420 tourists remain missing amid a total of 626 fatalities.
Nepal has asked Meta and TikTok to remove artificial intelligence-generated content in the form of images and videos, fake donation QR codes, and misleading posts following the flash flood disaster. The death toll from flash floods and landslides in Nepal reached 623 people on Saturday (29/8). Search and evacuation efforts are being carried out to recover the bodies of victims.