The UK has offered £5 million to help the Nepalese government amid a “very distressing and devastating situation” following the country’s flash floods, the Prime Minister has said.
More than 30 British nationals are among hundreds of people missing and feared dead as rescue efforts continued on Thursday.
Andy Burnham told reporters an offer had also been made for emergency responders to head to the affected area.
Death toll and missing persons
Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said 165 bodies have so far been recovered following flooding in the Rasuwa district, which borders China’s autonomous region of Tibet.
Two teenagers, a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, are among the 33 British nationals believed to be unaccounted for, as the total number of missing people rose from 403 to 826.
Flash floods caused rivers to burst their banks and covered populated areas in thick mud, burying houses and creating difficult conditions for rescuers.
Prime Minister's statement
Speaking to journalists during a visit to South Wales, the Prime Minister said: “It’s a devastating picture that is emerging from what has happened in Nepal.
“Scenes that we’ve never seen the like before, I don’t think, certainly the scale of the devastation.
“So there is immediate action being taken. We are deploying consular support staff to the region so that British nationals will be able to access support 24/7.
“An offer has been made of emergency responders to head to the region but that’s obviously a matter for the Nepalese government.
“But also we’ve offered £5 million to help with that response effort.
“Obviously, there are a number of British nationals who currently are thought to be missing and we’ll be providing all the support we can to their families in what is a very distressing and devastating situation.”
Impact on the ground
The president of the Nepal Centre for Disaster Management described the scene as being like a “tsunami from the sky” and that villages have been “completely wiped out”.
Bishal Nath Upreti told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the damage to the infrastructure has been so extensive only helicopters can be used to reach the site of the disaster.
