Britons send £33m to aid earthquake victims

JOANNA Lumley has said she is ‘so proud’ of the UK’s Nepal earthquake response as donations passed £33million. The actress and Gurkha campaigner has fronted the Disasters Emergency Committee fundraising appeal.

She said: ‘It’s quite incredible. On the very first day the appeal was sent out, back came £19million – nearly £20million. I am so proud of our country.’

The Absolutely Fabulous star – whose father was an officer with the 6th Gurkha Rifles – said aid should be used to help Nepalese children get their lives back on track.

‘It is sort of like a war zone. The trauma of these little ones – they are now living in the land of the dead, all around them are bodies,’ she added.

‘Things they could remember as landmarks, people, shops – everything has gone. We must make a calm and a safe place for them to get back into education and start their young Nepali lives to take their country on – it’s a massive thing.’

She described the earthquake and its aftermath as ‘like a catastrophic war visited by aliens upon an undeserving people’.

The UK Government’s humanitarian response to the earthquake stands at £22.8million, following a £5.3million contribution to the UN’s emergency appeal. The money will help supply food, clean water and shelter to the millions affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake – Nepal’s worst in 80 years.

An RAF C-17 plane, which had taken aid into the Himalayan country, safely brought seven Britons home at the weekend.

Their rescue came as another eight Britons, who had been stranded in a monastery, were flown back to Kathmandu. There they boarded aircraft to begin their journey back to the UK.

Nepal has been forced to close its only international airport to l arge j ets because they are causing damage to its runway as they bring in aid.

The UN has appealed f or £274million to help those affected by the earthquake, which killed more than 7,000 people and injured thousands more when it struck on April 25.