▲ South Korea's second emergency relief team in Nepal visits the disaster site
The Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), dispatched to the site to respond to the massive floods in Nepal, has held meetings with Korea South-East Power (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility, the employers of the missing South Koreans, regarding the search operations.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 14th, Yoon Joo-seok, minister-counselor at the Embassy of South Korea in the United States and head of the second KDRT delegation, met with officials from KOEN and Doosan between the 12th and 13th to listen to updates on company-level search and rescue activities.
The second KDRT delegation is making efforts to continue possible search and rescue operations within the scope permitted by the Nepalese government for safety reasons and supported by the Nepalese military.
During the same period, head of the delegation Yoon met with Lila Peters Yahia, United Nations resident coordinator in Nepal, and representatives from NGOs such as Good Neighbors and Save the Children to assess disaster relief demand and discuss directions for the South Korean government's contribution to Nepal's reconstruction and recovery process.
Later that day, head of the delegation Yoon visited Battar and Bidur in the Nuwakot district, touring displacement shelters and the Red Cross office to receive briefings on the local situation.
He also delivered relief supplies, including blankets, tarpaulins, mattresses, and hygiene kits stockpiled by the Korean National Red Cross in local disaster relief warehouses in Nepal.
The KDRT medical staff also visited the Nuwakot Trishuli Hospital and displacement shelters to examine the health status and medical needs of displaced persons, and delivered medical supplies such as surgical gowns and gloves.
Kim Byung-chul, a Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) global cooperative doctor assisting the KDRT who has volunteered medically in Nepal for about 10 years, stated, "According to the hospital, support for medicines for non-communicable disease patients is currently very much needed, and I think we need to review support in that area."
He added, "They say a lot of diesel fuel for power generation is needed in preparation for the possibility of recurrent floods, and additional stockpiling of necessary medicines is also required," and noted, "We will likely return to Kathmandu tomorrow and discuss future support plans at a plenary KDRT meeting."
The massive floods that occurred upstream in the Himalayan mountainous region on August 26 left more than 1,400 people dead and over 5,600 missing combined in Nepal and China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
Among the missing are nine South Korean employees from Doosan Enerbility and KOEN who were constructing the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydroelectric power plant in the Rasuwa district of Bagmati Province.
(Photo: Provided by the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), Yonhap News)
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