In light of an earthquake that recently struck in Nepal early Saturday morning about 50 miles Northwest of capital city Kathmandu, Mississippi State University’s Nepalese Student Association is working to raise money to assist victims of the natural disaster. 
There have been more than 3,600 death tolls confirmed and massive destruction to infrastructure. Kathmandu is reportedly home to more than one million people.  Reports also detail the earthquake to be the most “massive earthquake since 1934.” 
Nepal is a poor developing country and reportedly does not have resources to deal with this huge natural disaster. More than 6.6 million people have been affected by the earthquake. There are also villages where almost all the houses have been completely demolished, are inaccessible and people have no where to sleep, no food to eat and no water to drink.
The “Earthquake Relief Fund for Nepal” will be utilized by collecting financial assistance for “Care Nepal,” “Nepal Red Cross” and “Save the Children.”  MSU’s Nepalese Student Association is reaching out to various departments at MSU, the local Starkville community, Nepali residents in Jackson and other universities including the Mississippi University for Women (MUW), University of Southern Mississippi, Auburn University and the University of Mississippi. 
Ritesh Karki, president of the Nepalese Student Association at MSU, said aftershocks of the earthquake are strong and are still being felt. 
“There have been more than 100 aftershocks,” Karki said. “This is severely hampering the rescue effort and causing more casualties. According to the Nepal Ministry of Home affairs, the death toll has risen with many remote villages still needing rescue. There are more than 6.6 million people who have been affected by the earthquake.”
All hospitals in the capital city of Kathmandu are severely overcrowded, according to Karki.  She also said many countries including the United States of America, have sent assistance in forms of cargo, disaster-assistance response teams and urban search and rescue teams.
“At this time, we do not have access to any authority and links who can help us transport goods like water, food and clothing directly to our country at minimal or no shipping cost,” she said. “Hence, currently, we are solely focused on collecting as much financial assistance as we can, which we will be transferring to one of the organizations working locally there. However, if we were able to reach some people of authority who might be able to help with the logistics, collecting these basic needs and transporting to NEPAL would be wonderful.”
 After describing circumstances of people being forced to spend the night in the open, a condition made worse by the recurring aftershocks and rainfall, Karki said individuals are living on the streets.
“At present, there is a huge need for food, tents for shelter, blankets, medicine, and drinking water,” she said. “Food is getting scarce and the situation is very dire. The funds that we are able to collect from this campaign will be transferred to the organization to help the people in need.”
Donations can be made in one of the following ways:  Paypal: [email protected], (YouCaring) visit http://tinyurl.com/reliefnepal01 (Please be advised that you may want to change the amount of “optional contribution to YouCaring” to ZERO while making the donation through this website. This is an optional contribution that “youcaring” asks the donors to make to run their website. You need NOT pay make this contribution. Thus, please change that amount to ZERO when making the donation) and direct deposit to the following Cadence Bank Account: Routing Number: 084201443 Account Number: 13611876.