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Nepal Earthquake Appeal - the Gurkha Welfare Trust
The people of Nepal are reeling after the worst earthquake in 80 years hit the country and has devastated towns and villages. The death toll is already over 3,500 people. The sheer scale of destruction cannot be imagined, and news is only slowly filtering in from remote villages.
Many of you want to help and that is fantastic.
We support a number of charities which make use of every pound given, and we would like to support them at this time in preference to the large relief programmes. Mountain Kingdoms will be making our own substantial donations to the cause. One charity in particular that we know will be directly working on the relief effort is the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
We are encouraging our clients, friends and families to donate directly to the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
How the Gurkha Welfare Trust is responding
With the Gurkha Welfare Trust staff's safety confirmed, the immediate priority now is ensuring the wellbeing of the Gurkha beneficiaries, their families and communities. Teams have set out from a number of their devoted Welfare Centres to trek into the hills and attempt to reach isolated veterans. Their Welfare Officers will equally provide local situation reports for the national response coordination.
Their staff and facilities are assisting with wider relief efforts wherever possible. In particular, medical staff have been re-deployed to the most heavily affected areas – notably Gorkha, Lamjung and Bagmati (where Kathmandu is located). They will provide all possible medical aid over the coming days.
There are many disaster relief organisations working on the ground to mitigate the effects of the earthquake. As soon as the immediate danger is averted, the Gurkha Welfare Trust will also consider the long-term repercussions of this tragedy and how best to rebuild:
- The Welfare Pensioners' homes. Reports are already coming in of property destruction – they will distribute emergency hardship grants to help pensioners cope with their loss.
- The projects. At times like these, the need for access to water is higher than ever – they will do what we can to ensure that our rural water supply systems are intact and operational. We must equally guarantee the security of our school projects.
- Gurkha Welfare Trust's own infrastructure. There has been significant damage to their Welfare Centres in the most heavily affected regions – they will not allow this to impede our ability to provide relief.
SHIVA Charity donation
Mountain Kingdoms made an additional donation of £1,000 to Ginette Harrison School, near Kathmandu. Many homes have been destroyed in this area and the donation will be used to support the school's local community, in particular providing shelter, provisions and medical supplies. To read more about the Ginette Harrison School and SHIVA Charity, please visit our responsible travel page.
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Morocco Earthquake
We were deeply saddened to hear about the earthquake in Morocco which has caused such devastation and loss of life. Our hearts go out to everyone who has been affected. We were relieved to hear that our partners and friends in Morocco are all safe, and fortunately none of our clients were in country at the time.
We have made a donation to help support local relief efforts, and we will also be reviewing our upcoming trips in conjunction with our Moroccan partners.
Autumn getaways
With such a soggy summer at home, you may feel in extra need of blue skies and dry trails before the gloomy winter months draw in. Thankfully, we’ve still got availability on some of our autumn adventures. Find the details in our latest enews and start planning your autumn getaway.
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Take it easy or take a hike
What kind of traveller are you? Do you enjoy easy-paced gentle exploration with a comfortable bed, or remote mountain circuits and ticking off big peaks? In our latest enews we give you the choice of taking it easy or taking a hike, with ideas from Nepal to Patagonia and Africa to Japan.
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