Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong Provides $5 Million to Nepal-Tibet Floods as Missing Australians Hit 39

Houses lying deluged in sludge after flash floods at Devighat, Bidur Municipality in Nepal's Nuwakot district on Aug. 27, 2026. Prabin Ranabhat/AFP via Getty Images

Australia will provide $5 million in humanitarian aid to Nepal-Tibet as 39 Australians remain missing in the country’s catastrophic floods.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said the package includes $2 million for the World Food Programme, $2 million through Australian agencies and $1 million for the Emergency Action Alliance.

“This is a disaster of enormous proportions and you’re right, we unfortunately have some 39 Australians who are missing and unaccounted for,” Senator Wong said on ABC News Breakfast.

“We are urgently working to confirm their whereabouts, we are working to mobilise more resources into Nepal, into the area, and we have announced humanitarian assistance for the region.”

The Australian government will send a rapid response team with experience in disaster communications to Nepal within 48 hours.

Twenty Australian officials are already on the ground in Kathmandu, with more being added as needed.

“We’re also receiving calls into our consular emergency centre and we are deploying people into the region,” Wong said.

Australia Working to Communicate with Next of Kin

Senator Wong said the government was still working to gain “specific information” on each of the 39 Australians missing.

The government will communicate to next of kin as soon as possible.

“I do want to say our thoughts are with the families and friends of the Australians who are missing, and our thoughts are also with the broader Australian Nepalese and Tibetan communities,” she added.

Nepal’s confirmed death toll has reached 389 and at least 466 have suffered injuries. A huge section of a Himalayan glacier broke away on Aug. 26, triggering a landslide and a catastrophic flash flood down the Trishuli and Bhote Koshi rivers.

About 1,400 people remain unaccounted for in the region, including more than 500 foreign tourists and hikers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in a post to X, said Australia is sending crisis and humanitarian response specialists to help after the “devastating” floods.

“We’re also providing humanitarian assistance including food, emergency shelter, and medical support,” he said.

“Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those affected as we urgently work to confirm the welfare of missing Australians.”

Opposition Supports Measures

The Coalition offered bipartisan backing for the government’s efforts to provide support to Australians in Nepal.

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Ted O’Brien told ABC Radio National, “ The government does have the opposition’s support and I believe it is responding in the right way.”

O’Brien described the situation as an “absolute tragedy.”

“I just want to express my absolute devastation and to send a message of love and thoughts to all Australians of Nepalese or Tibetan heritage and any Australians who still have family members and loved ones missing.”

Anyone concerned about a loved one overseas can contact DFAT’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 from overseas.