Kathmandu: South Korea sent its second contingent of an overseas relief team to Nepal on Friday to support reconstruction and recovery efforts following last month's devastating floods, the foreign ministry said. The eight-member contingent of the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) arrived in Kathmandu aboard a KC-330 military transport aircraft at around 8:44 a.m. (local time), according to the ministry.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the aircraft also carried about 4 tons of relief supplies worth 180 million won (US$134,200), including tents, blankets, and clothing. The supplies were donated by South Korean companies and other entities. The team consists of officials from the foreign ministry, the National Fire Agency, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the National Medical Center. It will focus on reconstruction and recovery efforts during its seven-day mission, the ministry said.
The first 44-member KDRT contingent, dispatched to Nepal on Sept. 2 for a 10-day search-and-rescue mission, is scheduled to return home on Saturday morning. Nine South Koreans, including employees of Doosan Enerbility Co. and Korea South-East Power Co., went missing on Aug. 26 after massive floods and landslides hit Rasuwa District near the Nepal-Tibet border while they were working at a hydropower plant construction site.
Nepal has shifted its focus from search and rescue to reconstruction and recovery. The Seoul government has stated it will continue supporting search efforts for the missing Koreans in cooperation with Nepalese authorities and corporate rescue teams. A government joint rapid response team that was dispatched to Nepal shortly after the floods will be reorganized into a seven-member team to support recovery and other efforts, the ministry said.
The team includes police and forensic officials, who will work with their Nepalese counterparts at a forensic science laboratory to assist in identifying victims, among other duties. As of Thursday, more than 1,400 people had been killed and over 5,600 remained missing in Nepal and China's Tibet Autonomous Region following the disaster, according to foreign media reports.