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India flew a second consignment of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief material to Nepal on 27 August 2026, sending 37.5 tonnes of supplies aboard an Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster.
The first tranche of 10 tonnes - tents, blankets, hygiene kits, solar lamps and medicines - had gone in a C-130J Hercules on 26 August, hours after the flash flood struck.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced both consignments, and the Ministry of External Affairs said India remains in continuous touch with Nepalese authorities.
Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the Chief Ministers of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and the NDRF and local agencies were placed on alert in Indian districts along the Nepal border.
The flood began on 26 August when an ice-and-rock avalanche near the Tibet border dammed a tributary and the natural dam burst, sending water down the Bhote Koshi-Trishuli system through Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts.
HADR is the standard package of shelter, medical and sanitation supplies a state dispatches after a disaster abroad, usually through military transport because civilian logistics chains fail exactly when they are needed. The two aircraft used here mark the escalation. The C-130J Hercules is a medium tactical transport that can use short and rough strips, which suits a first, fast tranche; the C-17 Globemaster is a strategic heavy-lift aircraft with a far larger payload, which is why the second flight carried 37.5 tonnes against the first flight's 10.
Simple Analogy: The C-130J is the motorbike that gets there first through the traffic; the C-17 is the truck that follows with the load.
India's relief operation after the Nepal earthquake, the benchmark for Indian HADR in the neighbourhood and the template of first-responder diplomacy being followed here.
Rapid, visible disaster assistance to immediate neighbours is one of the policy's most concrete expressions.
The framework treaty underpinning the open border and the close security and economic relationship.
A recurring Himalayan hazard in which a moraine or ice dam impounds water that later bursts, as at Sikkim's South Lhonak lake in October 2023.
Raised in 2006 under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, it is the specialised force deployed for domestic response and, when directed, to support relief abroad.
GS Paper II > India and its neighbourhood; GS Paper III > Disaster and disaster management
General Awareness > International Current Affairs
General Awareness > Armed forces in HADR operations
General Awareness > Current Affairs
General Awareness > International Current Affairs
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief - the supplies and personnel a state sends after a disaster, typically airlifted by military transport.
A lake formed when a landslide, avalanche or debris flow blocks a river; it can burst catastrophically, as happened here.
Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the agency that issues official casualty bulletins.
The river formed downstream of the Trishuli in Nepal, which enters India in Bihar as the Gandak.