Islander to join forces with Guernsey charity to help Nepalese earthquake survivors

  • Leonie Hervé was holidaying in Nepal when earthquake struck
  • She has decided to stay and volunteer with Guernsey charity, Bridge2
  • Death toll reaches 4,000 as rescue parties continue to look for survivors
  • Jersey Overseas Aid has pledged to help the stricken country

AN ISLANDER caught up in the destruction following the Nepal earthquake hopes to work with a Guernsey-based disaster relief charity to help rebuild the country.

Leonie Hervé (32), who is stranded in Nepal’s second city Pokhara after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday morning, is continuing to urge Islanders to back aid efforts.

And she is now getting in contact with Sarah Griffith, who runs the Guernsey-based disaster relief charity Bridge2.

Ms Griffith, who has been involved in aid projects in Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Haiti, put together a campaign to raise funds and help victims of the earthquake – the biggest in the region for 80 years.

Locals watch rescue teams as they work through the rubbleThe collapsed Sitapyla church in Kathmandu

So far she has raised £4,000, and she will be in contact with aid agencies to co-ordinate relief efforts with the potential of going to Nepal to help out.

Ms Griffith said: ‘My experience in other areas hit by disaster will help. We just need to get the right team together.’

Miss Hervé, who described in the JEP on Monday the moment the earthquake struck, is urging Islanders to rally behind the relief mission.The death toll continues to rise – there have been 4,000 reported deaths, including 17 climbers on Mount Everest.

Miss Hervé said: ‘We are trying to find a project that we can work on in the hope that maybe people in the Channel Islands will be able to realise the devastation that is happening here and donate some money to help.’

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Miss Hervé, who was in the country for a month-long yoga course, has slept outdoors for fear of collapsing buildings.

‘There were up to 50 people taking refuge on the lawn in front of our hotel on Sunday night. I probably managed four hours’ sleep,’ she said.

Thousands of people are sleeping outside over fears of another earthquakeA Nepalese family carry the body of one of their relatives

‘A few of our group are now sleeping near the lakeside, where there is no danger of buildings collapsing – but then they have to consider the potential of rain and lack of amenities.

‘There are times when the ground feels like it’s constantly moving. I am trying to keep out of harm’s way and I am ready to run if needs be.’

One of the girls in her group told her that her husband’s best friend was killed in the Mount Everest avalanche, and Miss Hervé has also heard reports that towns near Pokhara have been devastated.

Meanwhile, an Islander who was involved in a Jersey Overseas Aid Commission project to provide water to two Nepalese villages is still waiting for news from the region.

Earlier this year Maurice Dubras spent three weeks in the Dandakharka region, near the earthquake epicentre, but as yet has heard no news regarding the villagers he assisted.

Chief Minsiter Ian Gorst expressed his sympathy for the people of Nepal, and added it was ‘welcome news’ that the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission had allocated £90,000 in emergency aid.

For more information about Bridge2, visit their website or go to their Facebook page, where you can make donations.

Oxfam Jersey have also appealed for cash donations to help victims of the disaster, which can be made at their shop in New Street.

Sarah Griffith, founder of Bridge 2 charity

The Bridge2 charities are run on one fundamental ethos. Simply put, it is to understand and determine the requirements of those in need and then to apply all possible resources to supply what is required.

In today’s world it appears that the major worldwide charities blanket cover a disaster situation only to leave it when the dust has settled. We carry on if we can find suitable projects, as has been proven in Sri Lanka, Haiti and latterly the Philippines.

Following the Asian Tsunami Sarah Griffith quickly travelled to Sri Lanka and immediately immersed herself in the culture of the country and made it her business to roll up her sleeves and meet those most in need of immediate help.

She prioritized the situations she was presented with which ranged from food, access to clean water, medical needs, housing and schooling.

Sarah in Haiti in 2010, offering aid following the earthquake that devastated the country

By being able to make instant decisions on who to assist Sarah was able to make a difference to people’s lives within a very short space of time.

Sarah devotes much of her time to following up with the people and projects she has previously funded giving her clear knowledge and an insight into how and where her funds have been spent.

Sarah makes a huge effort to present her donors back in Guernsey with photographic evidence of her work so that the donors can see with their own eyes just where and how their money has been spent.

Ten years on from the Tsunami Sarah continues to help many of the same families she started with as well as embracing new projects where she channels her energies.

She quickly learnt from the outset that rather than throw money at a project or need the best solution was to supply a way whereby a family for example could earn a living.

This may simply have been the provision of a sewing machine to produce goods for sale that could sustain a family or the supply of a bicycle that could enable a family to travel further and faster to seek out work, food or as a means of transporting children to remote jungle schools.

Source: www.bridge2.gg

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