A third-year Dundee University student has launched an appeal to help his homeland of Nepal recover from the devastating earthquakes that have hit the country.
Aayush Paudel, 23, who is studying mechanical engineering, is looking to raise funds and recruit people willing to work on the rebuilding of the country through his ‘Dundee for Nepal’ appeal.
He hopes to then lead his own humanitarian mission as he returns to the country, which has been left in ruins by the earthquakes of April 25 and May 12.
More than 8,000 have been killed and 17,000 injured, while hundreds more remain missing.
Aayush comes from the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, where the highest number of casualties has been recorded.
He has already raised £5,000 which has been passed to NGOs working in Nepal.
Now his new campaign aims to raise a further £25,000 in order to meet his ambition of identifying a rehabilitation need, developing the idea into a real-life project and rolling it out across areas of Nepal in need of aid.
Aayush said: “I found out about the first earthquake from my Facebook feed on the morning of April 25 and all I could think about was if my parents were OK or not.
“Fear kept on building up as I couldn’t reach them the whole day. I finally managed to speak to my mum for 30 seconds late in the evening.
“The horror of going through the news feeds, the pictures and videos of the devastation was more disturbing than anything I have ever experienced.
“I am lucky that all my family lost was some property but I have friends who have lost their friends, family and property to the disaster.
“I am planning to return to Nepal with volunteers to help but identifying and devising a plan for the areas where our knowledge and skills would be best suited to make maximum impact before we go is the immediate priority.
“Anyone can register themselves to volunteer.
“We will have a core team who will be looking into specific areas within the campaign.”
Anyone who wishes to donate to the Dundee for Nepal appeal can do so at www.gofundme.com/dundeefornepal, while volunteers can call Aayush directly on 07713 477123.