Nepal's army is flying four Chinese-donated cargo drones to deliver food and recover the dead

Four Chinese-donated DJI FlyCart 100 heavy-lift drones, operated by the Nepal Army, are running 10 to 16 aid flights a day in the flood zone along the Nepal-China border, according to a Reuters dispatch on September 9. The trigger was the August 26 partial collapse of a glacier above the upper border; flash floods tore through valleys where roads, bridges, and hydropower stations are now impassable.

The FlyCart 100 carries roughly 132 pounds per trip on a 30-meter winch, a category jump from the small quadcopters that usually arrive first in a disaster. Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, or NDRRMA, said September 9 that the confirmed death toll is 1,369, with more than 5,000 still missing, including 587 foreign nationals. The same heavy-lift drones that drop food are being used to recover bodies from valleys ground teams cannot reach.

Smaller drones are doing a second job. Pilot Manish Maharjan has flown audio-equipped craft into hydropower tunnels filled with mud, calling out to and playing music for workers trapped after the floods, per an AP interview carried by CBC.

The United Nations has appealed for $20.5 million to assist 43,000 people. More than 21,000 police and soldiers are deployed for search and rescue.