The number of Australians who were reported missing in the catastrophic Nepal flooding disaster has risen to 41, as one family celebrates after an unaccounted-for woman made contact with them yesterday.
It means three additional Australians were confirmed missing overnight – up from 38 who remained unaccounted for on Friday evening.
The Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs has been urgently working with local authorities to contact Australian woman Cara Severino, 25, who became the first Australian reported missing who has been confirmed safe.
Severino contacted her parents, Debbie and Frank Severino, on Friday morning, informing them she was hiking away from the disaster zone to Kathmandu with a group of Nepali hikers – a trek of more than 110km.
The Red Cross has said about 600 people are dead and as many as 93,000 people may have been affected by Wednesday’s flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border, with a huge rescue operation that is being hampered by fears of new flooding.
Dfat has received more than 450 calls in relation to the disaster.
Nepal’s disaster management agency says there are 1,924 people unaccounted for – 517 of those people are foreign tourists.
About 7:30pm on Friday evening, the authority said 121 foreigners had been rescued – none of them were Australians.
View from Kathmandu hospital
Outside the hospital in Kathmandu yesterday, there were scenes of anxiety as families put up posters of loved ones, and authorities hung pictures of the dead that need to be identified.
One woman said her cousin was on his way back from Australia because his brother had gone missing.
Like many others, she was putting pictures of him up, in case he was brought back to the hospital.
Australian charities are starting to pump in aid, with the Emergency Action Alliance – a peak body representing major Australian charities – raising funds to build emergency shelters, get food and safe drinking water, hygiene supplies and medical care to communities.
But conditions on the ground are difficult and unpredictable owing to the scale of the damage and the heavy monsoon. Rescue operations in Nepal and China resumed as of Saturday morning after being suspended due to the risk of further flooding.
“The gravity of the situation is worse now because whole towns have swept away,” Australian Nepalese Multicultural Centre vice president Keshav Kadel said.
“Now there is nothing, it’s just a mudslide.”
Four Dfat crisis response team officers are expected to arrive in Kathmandu later on Saturday to support consular efforts on the ground.
Four rapid response team members are also expected to arrive in Kathmandu – humanitarian response specialists with expertise in communications, logistics and planning.
These extra deployments add to about 20 personnel Australian already has on the ground with the Australian embassy in Kathmandu.
On Friday night, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, spoke with the Nepali foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, to affirm that Australia would provide further humanitarian assistance, including to aid rescue and recovery efforts, where required.
Australia has pledged $5m in aid and support for the disaster, with $2m going to the World Food Programme to provide emergency food and water provisions, and the remaining to the Emergency Action Alliance.
Australia’s assistant minister for foreign affairs and trade, Matt Thistlethwaite, said on Saturday morning that the aid was being provided on request of the Nepalese authorities. Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Thistlethwaite said Australian officials in Beijing were also working with the Chinese Government, but that China had not so far requested support.
“We’re doing our best to support both the Nepalese and Tibetan diasporas here in Australia,” Thistlethwaite said.
“Yesterday I held two online forums, one with the Nepalese community one with the Tibetan community to outline the latest situation, to advise of the support that Australia is providing, the $5m in humanitarian aid, and the best way for us to keep in contact with them. We’re providing them with the latest information through our officials.
“I also attended a vigil last night with the Nepalese community in Strathfield and obviously there was quite a bit of despair and anxiety in that community, but we’re doing our best to support the Tibetan and Nepalese communities here in Australia.
