India, Aug. 30 -- The change came as the scale of the disaster became clear and pressure grew from countries seeking to locate their nationals

Nepal has agreed to accept specialised international search-and-rescue assistance in areas devastated by flash floods, reversing its earlier decision to rely exclusively on domestic rescue agencies.

Teams and technical support from India, China, Australia and South Korea will be allowed to assist ongoing operations, particularly in areas requiring specialist capabilities such as tunnel rescue, medical support, DNA analysis and forensic identification.

The decision was approved by an inter-ministerial coordination committee following an assessment by Nepal's National Disaster Management Centre. T...