India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the largest number of reinforcements comprising 16 teams that facilitated search and rescue operations after the Nepal Earthquake, officially announced that it will be pulling out.

The government declared that the search and rescue operations will be halted and the aid will put more emphasis on rendering relief to the victims of the Nepal earthquake and retrieval of corpses. This announcement was made nine days after the earthquake, according to Indian Express.

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"We are now withdrawing ourselves in a phased manner," said General OP Singh, India's NDRF Director, further adding that approximately 250 NDRF workers from India will leave by Monday night through the Indian Air Force.

The second batch of India's NDRF personnel consisting 150 people will depart for India through land trip by Tuesday. The remaining workers will also leave in about two days.

Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, Joint Secretary and also the spokesperson for the Nepal Home Ministry, elucidated that they only followed the guidelines of the International Search and Advisory Group. The guidelines stipulated that the duration search and rescue operations following the Nepal earthquake can only last for 7 days, according to a recent interview with The Indian Express.

Dhakal further added that their committee of Central Natural Relief finally came to a decision that the search and rescue operations for the Nepal earthquake will come to a halt last Sunday.

The committee also gave their utmost gratitude to India's NDRF for a job well done and since their task already reached its completion, they are now requesting the team to make their exit plans.

Dhakal enumerates the 34 countries that helped out during the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake and commends them for a job well done. Dhakal pointed out that these "friends" that came from 34 different countries, have been with through this hard time of disaster.

Amid controversy of Nepali citizens requesting Indian media to move out, the government was quick to clarify that the foreign rescue team requested to leave was not directed only to India alone. Rather, it was directed to the other 33 countries that immediately flocked to the nation to give aid after the Nepal earthquake.

TagsNepal, Nepal Earthquake, earthquake survivor