Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has announced that one of the 30 Canadian citizens and permanent residents who were reported missing following disastrous flooding in the border region of Nepal and China has been located unharmed. The individual, previously unreachable due to communication disruptions, was able to establish contact on Tuesday.
The flash floods occurred a week ago after a glacier collapsed in the Himalayan border area shared by Nepal and China. The devastating incident resulted in over 1,100 fatalities and left more than 3,900 individuals unaccounted for, according to official reports from Nepal’s Foreign Ministry. Among the missing are approximately 590 foreign nationals from 39 different countries.
In response to the crisis, Canada will be dispatching over 18,000 emergency supplies from the Canadian Red Cross reserves to the affected region. This assistance is in addition to the $5 million in humanitarian aid that Ottawa has already committed to supporting the relief efforts.
The aftermath of the catastrophic flooding can be seen in drone footage capturing the destruction in Devighat, Nepal, where homes lay in ruins and debris covers the area following the deadly flash floods that ravaged the region last week.