The United States will provide $500,000 in emergency assistance and send a disaster-response adviser to support relief and rescue operations in flood-hit northern Nepal. The US State Department confirmed the assistance in a statement on Wednesday, following a devastating flash flood in Rasuwa, a mountainous district bordering Tibet.

The funding will be delivered through the US-based international humanitarian organization Catholic Relief Services. It is intended for emergency food, medicine, safe water, essential relief supplies, temporary shelters, sanitation and hygiene support for affected residents. The adviser will provide guidance to a joint rescue team comprising Nepal Army, police and disaster-management personnel; the State Department did not disclose the adviser’s name.

Nepal Police said 160 bodies had been recovered from mud and rock deposits after the flooding, while at least 579 people remained missing. More than 100 Indians, 54 Americans, 33 British citizens and more than 100 Nepali citizens were among those missing, along with rescue personnel and electricity department workers. Washington instructed its embassy in Kathmandu to work closely with Nepal’s government to locate missing Americans.