Nepali community starts raising funds
Christchurch Nepalis are raising money to support their beleaguered country as aftershocks continue and the death toll from the devastating earthquake climbs.
The community began fundraising in earnest yesterday, helped by members of the University of Canterbury Student Volunteer Army in collecting money at Westfield Mall, Riccarton.
A fundraising page has been set up to gather donations online.
About 200 Nepalese call Canterbury home, with many having lived through the Christchurch earthquakes.
Former UC student and SVA member Roshit Bothara, 21, asked army founder Sam Johnson to help the community with fundraising at a meeting on Sunday.
Johnson said he and SVA president Lucy McLeod signed an agreement to launch a joint fundraising campaign for Nepal.
‘‘It’s to support local projects . . . so we will wait to see what local communities we can assist with.’’
Bothara was having dinner with his family and about 30 Nepalese friends on Saturday night when he learned of the quake.
‘‘It was really difficult, everyone went silent and started checking their phones for news from family. It was a very tough time. I think the whole community has been on edge. We feel helpless, so far away as well.’’
Bothara’s father, Jitendra Bothara, a seismic engineer, was preparing to leave for Nepal in the next few days to help with building assessments. ‘‘It’s close to my heart and I feel a lot of pain for my friends, countrymen and family, everybody,’’ he said.
The elder Bothara hoped to spend a week assessing the situation, ‘‘understanding the problems and identifying gaps’’.
Saturday’s earthquake had been fully expected, he said. In 1992 he began work as lead consultant for engineering firm Beca, to develop the building code in Nepal.
However, he said the code had not been implemented to the level he would have liked because of a lack of political will and awareness.
‘‘I think the biggest issue was awareness’’