The federal government moved to reassure relatives while ramping up its response. After an Australian made contact with family and the department of foreign affairs and trade, foreign minister Penny Wong said the government was “incredibly thankful”. Wong added it was “hard to imagine the sense of relief their loved ones must be feeling” after days without contact.
Australia has already provided a $8m assistance package for communities on the Nepal-Tibet border. The department of foreign affairs and trade has logged nearly 800 calls related to the floods, and 18 Australian personnel have been sent to Nepal to join staff on the ground. More humanitarian and disaster relief from Australia is scheduled to arrive this afternoon.
The humanitarian scale of the disaster remains severe. The death toll from the deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris stands at 939 people, with a further 16 fatalities reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 people are missing across the affected region. Nepal has deployed nearly 20,000 security personnel to support search and rescue, and Chinese state media said 2,141 emergency personnel have been sent to assist operations.
Wong cautioned that the outlook remained uncertain, noting the practical limits rescuers face. “Communications remain difficult, infrastructure has been destroyed and many areas are still difficult to reach,” she said, urging realism about what the next days will deliver. “As each day passes, our grave concerns for those still unaccounted for inevitably grow.”
Search and recovery work will continue under constrained conditions, with family reunions and urgent consular support remaining priorities. Australian teams on the ground will coordinate incoming relief with local and regional services as rescue efforts press on.
