NEPAL RELIEF FUND

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14/05 Relief material distributed

Relief material sent from Bangalore has already been successfully distributed by SEBS Nepal! We are very proud of our partner organisation for working day and night to ensure that help reaches the ones in need. Situation on the ground after the second major quake on the 12th has not allowed us to obtain photographs of the distribution. We will upload them as soon as everything stabilises. Stay strong, Nepal!

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07/05: Relief material successfully reached Gorakhpur!

All items dispatched from Bangalore on 04/05 have successfully and safely been received at Gorakhpur. They are now on their way to Bhairahawa! Will keep you posted!

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03/05: Taken while the team was getting everything packed and ready! 1.35 tonnes of relief material is already on its way to Nepal!

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03/05: The Ghimire family successfully distributed food and other essentials to 50 families in one of the most affected regions in Sindhupalchok. Relief efforts hadn't reached that area yet. We would like to thank our professor at NLSIU for making this possible!

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03/05: Packing and labeling the cargo at our Koramangala HQ! One of the two cats there, helping us guard the relief material.

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02/05: Tents, tarpaulins and carpets have been collected by our wonderful team, and our Koramangala HQ is starting to look organised! To be packed and sent soon!

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02/05: Ghimire family at their best!

One of our NRF members, Abhilasha, just received these pictures. We are so proud of the Ghimire khandan! Lageka chan sabai jana!

They have been doing this for the last few days. Here is what they are taking to Sindhupalchok tomorrow: Plastic durable bags, buckets, mugs, steel plates & spoons, bathing & washing soaps, cooking oil, protective masks & gloves, beaten rice, pulses, salt and sugar! 

Again, so proud!

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02/05: Mats & Blankets

We have started receiving the first round of mats and blankets!

Look at our Koramangala HQ!

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01/05: Blankets and Mats

Our team was able to procure blankets and mats today to be sent to Nepal! This is being funded by SEBS North America to be sent to SEBS Nepal for distribution.

Here’s the math:

300 blankets for INR 150 each; total: INR 45,000

100 (4x4 size) mats for INR 100 each; total INR 10,000

150 (6x6 size) mats for INR 180 each; total INR 27,000

TOTAL = INR 82,000 (we paid an advance of INR 50,000, remainder upon delivery).

Here are some of the pictures:

Now, working on getting more tents!

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30/04: Nitish was able to collect the tents from the very generous people at Decathlon who gave us 75% discount for this relief package! It only cost us a flat INR 20,000. All packed and ready to be sent soon!

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FAQs

First things first: Bona fide certification of anyone’s involvement in the relief process is a must to be able to send, collect, transport, get custom clearance and distribute supplies across the border. We have bona fide certificates from the organisations we are working with. We, therefore, are not only required to maintain transparency for the sake of our contributors, but our partner organisations have stringent rules in that regard as well. The organisations are:

Society of Ex-Budhanilkantha Students (SEBS)

Women for Human Rights (WHR)

Yang-Ward Foundation, in association with e-Rotary

1.    From where are you collecting funds and supplies?

SEBS North America has agreed to help us with funds for specifically buying tents and tarps.

We are collecting donations and supplies from our friends, family and NLSIU community, which will be distributed in the affected regions by Yang-Ward Foundation and WHR.

2.    So, why do you need to collect funds in particular? Can the organisation not be sent donations directly instead?

This would have been easier for all of us, and it is what we would have preferred as well. However, we have been informed that there is a shortage of tents in the Nepali market. There are entire villages without any shelter. So even if the funds are directly channelled to them, they will not be able to get the requisite amount of tents required urgently. For this reason, they are routing the funds to us, and we are trying to collect some on our own as well since relief tents are expensive, so we can send help as soon as possible.

3.    How are you planning on sending tents and other supplies from here?

A lot of airline companies are generous enough to give free cargo delivery to Kathmandu. However, a lot of the supplies sent from abroad by people wishing to help are stuck in the airport as they have not been properly addressed to any organisation and thus, they are not able to receive custom clearance in the airport. The situation in the airport is thus very close to chaos.

We have been in contact with the SEBS network and they have set up pick up and distribution channels in the India-Nepal Border. We are therefore going to send the tents and large boxes of supplies to Nepal by trains. SEBS representatives will come collect it at the border, and send it to Kathmandu via Buddha Air, which has agreed to do the transportation of cargo for free.

The process of further distribution to the affected areas will be done from Kathmandu, in coordination with the other organisations.

If the airport custom clearance situation gets better and less chaotic by Monday, we will consider sending it as relief cargo with the airlines. SEBS will then be able to clear it directly from Kathmandu. The rest remains the same.

4.    What will you do with the funds, if excess, after you buy the tents?

We will use the remainder to fund other essential items required in Nepal as per the need. We still need a lot of medical kits and equipments in the villages. However, if the relief distribution system gets clearer in the coming week or so, we are open to transferring the balance to our partner organisations in Nepal if they can effectively channel it within the affected areas themselves instead!

5.  Will all of this be recorded somewhere?

Absolutely. You can view our bank, logistics and transportation transactions anytime once they are completed. We will upload the details on this page.  Any other information you want will also be provided at any time.

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30/04: Funds + Supplies Collection

Hello everyone! 

We’ve had a great start to our work. Our fund now has INR 45,471, collected over 2 days! We would like to thank all of our generous professors, family and friends for their overwhelming support! I’ll be posting details about the funds shortly.

We also received a lot of useful dry food items, clothes, blankets, mattress and bags from the NLSIU community! Rupali and Sakshi helped collect the material in the girls’ hostels. We plan to continue this process even tomorrow. Thank you, each and every one of you, for donating! 

Some of the donations collected in the girls’ mess are:

Box full of everyday clothes!

Blankets, mattress, pillows and bedsheets!

Sanitation items!

Bags!

Warm clothes!

And food items!

Again, we would like to thank you all for all your help. We will keep you posted!