A graduate from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) has told of his family’s desperate wait for news that relatives had survived the massive earthquake in Nepal, which claimed thousands of lives and has left millions of survivors facing a humanitarian crisis.
Sadeep Rai, who graduated with a BSc in Accounting and Finance and then completed an MSc in the same subject last year, has been fund-raising on the steps of the DMU Campus Centre this week, by playing guitar and singing traditional Nepalese songs with his fellow countrymen Kalpit Bhandari and Nischal Shrestha.
He has urged students and staff to give what they can to the earthquake appeal which is helping the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost loved ones and been left homeless without food and clean water.
Sadeep, who works as a finance administrator in Loughborough, is still coming to terms with what has happened in his homeland and has spoken of the desperate wait to hear from relatives caught up in the disaster.
He says every penny counts for the disaster relief campaigns to help the victims facing a huge humanitarian crisis.
“I remember being woken up by my mum early last Saturday morning who said there had been an earthquake. I thought it was small – Nepal is on a faultline – and went back to sleep. Then I checked on Facebook and realised how devastating this earthquake had been,” Sadeep said.
“I just kept saying “you are joking, you are joking”. I was in a state of shock”
He continued: “People in Nepal expected a big earthquake some day but never dreamed it would be something like this.
“We could not contact my grandmother, or uncles or cousins in Nepal for the first few hours after we heard the news. There was no electricity and phone lines and mobile networks were all down. It was an awful time. My family were so worried. We eventually heard later in the day my relatives had survived but like thousands of others they are facing so many problems.
“They have lost friends and loved ones and now food supplies are really bad and water shortages are a problem. People of Nepal are trying to do what they can but they are so weak. And there are so many children whose parents have died and they desperately need help. There is no one there for them during this terrible time.
“There are terrible thunderstorms and freezing rain too and people have no shelter.”
Sadeep, Kalpit and Nischal decided to do whatever they could to raise funds for the disaster campaign so grabbed their guitars and came to DMU to busk.
They said they were touched by the response from students and staff and had raised £150 in one afternoon from a bucket collection. They also went to London to join thousands of others for a midnight candlelit vigil and fund-raiser.
Sadeep said: “I worked as a Student Ambassador while at DMU and know the volunteering team so I asked if I could raise funds on campus and they said it was no problem at all.
“People have been incredibly generous.”
DMU has more than 130 Nepalese students who have all been contacted by the university and offered support.
The scale of the humanitarian crisis engulfing the 8 million people in Nepal is now coming to light as aid trucks and relief workers arrive in the country.
It is predicted the death toll could reach 10,000. Unicef has warned at least 2.8 million children are in urgent need of assistance amid dwindling supplies of water and food and constant power failures. It is estimated in some villages that up to 90 per cent of houses have collapsed.
To give to the earthquake appeal, you can visit the Disasters Emergency Committee.
Posted on Thursday 30 April 2015