Isle of Man village rallies for Nepal flood victims

A Manx village will raise money this weekend for victims of the recent deadly flash flooding in Nepal.

The people of Kirk Michael and Ghamrang in Nepal have been linked by a charity since 1993.

A raffle and bake sale at the village fair will go towards the Pahar Trust Nepal, which builds and repairs earthquake-resilient schools, health centres and sanitation facilities in remote mountain villages.

Sunday's event will take place from 12:00-16:00 BST at Kirk Michael Football Club on Balleria Road.

Kirk Michael's link to Ghamrang, a village in Lamjung district, west Nepal, is part of the reason the Pahar Trust came to exist in the first place.

It started with a school in Nepal, built in 1991 by ex-Gurkha soldier Tom Langridge and his friend Chandra Bahadur Gurung.

Howard Green, then head teacher at Michael School, heard about it and invited Langridge to speak to pupils.

Kirk Michael went on to raise money for a second school in Ghamrang.

The two villages became twinned, and the Pahar Trust Nepal was born.

The charity has gone on to build about 30 schools across the country.

Ghamrang is not among the areas known to have been affected by the floods - the disaster struck along the Trishuli River corridor in north-central Nepal near the border with Tibet.

Proceeds from Sunday's event will go towards the wider Nepal relief effort through the existing Pahar Trust partnership.

Flash floods and debris flows struck dozens of settlements along a 45-mile (72 km) stretch of the Trishuli River on 26 August.

The death toll has continued to rise in the days since, with more than 1,200 now thought to have perished, while thousands more are missing.

Hundreds of workers are feared trapped in tunnels at hydropower sites along the river, where rescue efforts have been ongoing.

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