Quake fundraising binds Nepalese community

Rotorua's Nepalese community has been drawn together by the tragedy in their home country. Photo / Stephen Parker

The Nepalese community of Rotorua has united in the face of adversity, raising about $3000 for families affected by the recent earthquakes.

The 7.9 magnitude earthquake turned Kathmandu and surrounding villages to rubble on April 25.

Rotorua woman Nikeey Silwal said they had received a lot of support from the community.

"It was really successful, we had some awesome support. We ended up teaming up with Waiariki Institute of Technology and doing some fundraising. It started from Thursday Night Markets, and the street appeal started off with the marathon. It was really good."

She said the earthquake had such a high profile that people wanted to help.

"It was because it was on the news constantly, everyone knew about it so it was really good, and with the article in the paper, it got the word out as well which helped."

She said family members had all been located and were doing well.

"Everyone's still fine, they're helping with the relief. All the family that we know are fine, they're just trying to rebuild now, I guess."

She said other members of the Nepalese community had held raffles in order to fundraise, but did not know of any other concentrated efforts.

She said the community had been drawn together by the tragedy.

"Just thank you to everyone that supported, especially the Nepalese community pulling together. There's a few that know each other but there was a whole heap of people we just met on the Saturday and on the Thursday, so a lot of new faces.

"We ended up finding out there were 50 students, so there must be at least 70 or 80 people from the Nepalese community in town and we did end up meeting a lot more so that's really good."

Other fundraising efforts include Abracadabra Bar and Cafe and Fruit Monster, who jointly raised $200.