SYDNEY, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Australia will provide $3.6 million in aid for communities hit by floods along the Nepal-China border and deploy extra consular staff to the area, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday as the number of missing Australians rose to 39.
Flash flooding triggered by a glacier collapse has killed at least 359 people and left nearly 1,000 missing in the region, half of them foreigners.
• “The extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery,” Wong said in a joint statement with International Development Minister Anne Aly.
• There were at least 39 Australians missing in the disaster, the statement said, up from a previous estimate of 34.
• The funds will be split between the United Nations’ World Food Programme and Australian NGOs.
• An Australian crisis response specialist has already flown to Kathmandu, while a team of three humanitarian workers will deploy within 48 hours to assist Australian staff already there.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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