Doosan pledges $5m in emergency aid after Nepal floods

Doosan Group announced Thursday it would provide $5 million in emergency aid to the flood-stricken Rasuwa region of Nepal.

A massive flood struck Rasuwa, a mountainous area in the Himalayas, at around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday (local time), cutting off contact with nine South Korean nationals affiliated with Korea South-East Power (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility.

Ten other Doosan Enerbility employees are sheltering at the site alongside some 200 foreign workers, including Nepali nationals, awaiting rescue. They had been working at the construction site of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant, a 216 MW project currently under development.

Doosan Enerbility set up an internal emergency task force immediately after the disaster and dispatched a field response team — led by President and CEO Jeong Yeon-in — to the site Thursday afternoon.

Doosan said it plans to support search, rescue and recovery operations in the affected area. "We hope this will help speed up recovery efforts in the wake of this sudden and large-scale disaster," a company official said.