The people of Norfolk are today being urged to donate tents and money to help thousands of people who are in desperate need of food and water following the devastating earthquake in Nepal.
More than 5,000 people have been killed by the 7.8-magnitude quake on Saturday which has prompted a major response from other countries across the world shocked and saddened by Saturday's events.
And with the relief efforts continuing in the Kathmandu Valley - where there are fears of further aftershocks - there has been a passionate call for people closer to home to do their bit for the survivors and their families whose lives have been plunged into turmoil.
Catherine Blaiklock, from Lingwood, founder of the charity Nepal in Need, has today issued an urgent plea for people to donate tents so that they can be taken out to the devastated region by trustees who are flying out in the coming days.
She said: 'We've asked for sleeping bags and tents to be donated to Fine and Country in Norwich and Greshams School in north Norfolk. We're looking to send a couple of people out with the cargo and take them out to the affected villages.'
Ms Blaiklock said they had already received 'quite a lot' of tents but wanted as many as possible because the situation was 'not going to go away' and with monsoons on the horizon those that had lost their homes in the quake were in desperate need of shelter.
She said: 'We don't expect people to buy new ones but see if they've got an old one in their cupboard.'
Ms Blaiklock has also welcomed people's financial generosity with the charity, which normally receives about £10,000 a year in donations but has been sent more than £5,500 in the past 24 hours.
One trustee member of the charity, which was founded in 2008, is already on the ground in Nepal while two others are planning to fly out next week with 2000kg of equipment.
Ms Blaiklock said the other trustees, who would be paying their own travel expenses, were planning to get supplies out to the Gorka region where few agencies have arrived.
She insisted that all donations would reach the people and urged anyone who could help to donate money or tents by Monday night.
Thousands of people are queuing to board buses and leave the capital, amid fears of further aftershocks.
Early on Wednesday police at the station scuffled with people trying to get on to crowded buses.
The UN has launched an appeal for $415m (£270m) to provide emergency relief over the next three months.
It estimates more than eight million people have been affected by the quake with about 10,000 people injured.
Norwich Evening News sister paper, the EDP, has teamed up with Unicef to support the charity's work on the ground, including delivering clean water and other life-savinf emergency supplies to children and their families as part of the EDP's Nepal Earthquake Appeal.
To find out more about how you can help Nepal in Need log onto http://nepalinneed.org/ or call Ms Blaiklock on 07907662171.
Are you looking to fundraise for the people of Nepal? Email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk
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