The Nepal Earthquake: How to Help

globegazers 20 Comments

We haven’t blogged in a while because we were trapped while trekking the Langtang Valley when the large earthquake hit Nepal on April 25. That is many stories for another time though. Right now, we want to use this platform to ask everyone to please consider contributing to the causes that are trying to help the country recover.

We’ll try to collect information on different charities as we learn about them.

Some Recommendations

  • Rasuwa Relief – A group working specifically in the Rasuwa region which includes some of the towns we traveled through. Extensive information about their efforts can be found on their facebook group.
  • Langtang Disaster Relief Fund – A new group started by a survivor from Langtang village. Funds go directly to the Langtang villagers to try to rebuild.
  • Sustainable Steps Nepal – Relief for now and the future of Nepal
  • Langtang Village of Nepal Relief Fund – started by friend of a friend in Denver who has connections to Nepal. Langtang Village was higher on our trek and was completely destroyed by a mud/snow landslide. Please also note that there is an in-person fundraising event planned as well.
  • Colorado Nepal Alliance / Shoes for Sherpas – two projects from our home state that do good work in Nepal. We have a friend on the board as well
  • Mountainchild
  • Gift of the Givers – this is a South African organization that is working in Nepal. They did a lot of work to support the two South Africans who were stuck at Bamboo Village with us. They are continuing their search and rescue and support efforts
  • From a friend: “I heard from a college professor (my major advisor) who has a current Nepali student from Kathmandu, with family there. I believe he knows they are okay, but he and his sister are fundraising for two relief organizations that aren’t on most people’s radar: Women’s Entrepreneur Association of Nepal (WEAN) and Baseri Village Relief Team (Dhading), through an Indiegogo campaign.”
  • Nepal Youth Foundation and iDE – Two charities that were recommended by a Denver-area church

From Our Own

Recommendations from a Friend With Connections in Nepal

  • DIRECT REBUILDING IN ONE REMOTE VILLAGE.  http://www.gofundme.com/t494ck   “Closest to my heart is this tiny campaign.  It was organized by Phurchhoki Sherpa, whose family I lived with both before she was born and after.  She is the first of her village to attend college in the U.S. and is here now, having just graduated.  I could not be prouder. Her American friends wanted to give money to rebuild her house, but she decided instead to ask for help in restoring the village school and Buddhist temple.  The money she receives will go directly to the village where villagers will use it along with the labor of their own hands to rebuild.  Please consider even a small donation as the money will go a long way.”
  • IMMEDIATE RELIEF/HEALTHCARE.  “These recommendations come from a young Nepalese doctor connected to my uncle (also a doctor, and who has worked on relief efforts in Haiti). Health is going to be one of the biggest challenges very quickly, as both in Kathmandu and in rural areas normal means of sanitation are badly compromised. This doctor is recommending two smaller organizations that, in her words, ‘skip both big names and our Nepali government… so that maximum money reaches the needy.’– “The America Nepali Medical Foundation is directly collaborating with major hospital in and around Kathmandu valley and is arranging medical care to reach ground zero.”  http://americanepalmedicalfoundation.com— “NAOO is our Nepalese group here in Cleveland. it will collaborate with local organisation and youth group to provide relief package and basic necessity supplies like tent and drinking water. few of our members have already left for Nepal to map the initial steps.”  http://new.naoo.org/?page_id=161
  •  IMMEDIATE DISASTER RELIEF IN KATHMANDU AND LESS REMOTE AREAS.  “I am recommending Charity: Water.  They have an excellent reputation internationally and have been in Nepal several years working to provide drinking water systems.  They have connections/experience with disaster relief also and are expanding their focus in the wake of the earthquake, but I believe their experience of water issues will be invaluable.  Water is a precondition for food, health, sanitation — everything — and water systems are stressed or broken in many places. “
  • LONG HAUL REBUILDING.  : “dZi Foundation I think I have been hearing more about this organization than any other.  It is relatively small, and it has a stellar reputation for employing Nepalis and for working in areas that have been unreached by conventional development efforts.  More information about their philosophy and present program of action in the wake of the earthquake is here.  I highly recommend them.”

Large Charity Lists

Some organizations have put together lists of reputable charities

20 thoughts on “The Nepal Earthquake: How to Help”

    • Hi Eric and Della

      I hope you are both well. I’ve enjoyed reading your exhaustive blog your experience in Nepal!
      I’d love to speak to you about your experience of the earthquake as I’m making a documentary on the human stories behind the earthquake, and would love to learn more about your time in Bamboo. Is there a good time I could telephone you or perhaps arrange a skype call?

      My email is karen.mcgann@arrowmedia.com

      Best Wishes
      Karen

      Reply

  14. […] We’re going to switch the blog back to talking about some of our other travels on our round-the-world trip, but are hearts are still with Nepal. If you’d like to contribute to help the people of Nepal recover from the devastating earthquake, please visit our page collecting some worthy causes. […]

    Reply

  17. […] We’ve switched the blog back to talking about some of our other travels on our round-the-world trip, but are hearts are still with Nepal. If you’d like to contribute to help the people of Nepal recover from the devastating earthquake, please visit our page collecting some worthy causes. […]

    Reply

  18. […] ~ Our biggest emotional high was when we were rescued by helicopter from Bamboo Village in Nepal. We had never ridden in a helicopter before and on that day, we rode two. We couldn’t have had better scenery: the beautiful Himalayas of Nepal. Despite the destruction caused by the earthquake and landslides, Nepal is a gorgeous country, well worth a visit! If you are interested in supporting Nepal after the devastating earthquake, check out some ideas here.  […]

    Reply

  19. […] We arrived home in Denver about 1 month earlier than we had intended. Because of this, we had one more month of summer to figure out. We were feeling a bit antsy and were working through a lot of feelings related to our experience in Nepal during the earthquake. We knew that Eric’s parents already had a short vacation planned in Red River, NM. We decided to drive down and join them and give ourselves a little bit more time to explore a bit closer to home. If you’d like to learn more about how to support Nepal after the earthquake, there are a few ideas here. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s