Charities work together to race four tonnes of emergency aid to disaster-hit Nepal
Shiva Charity is working with multi-agency teams to reach stranded communities in a fast-paced relief effort
Shiva Charity and partners are racing four tonnes of emergency aid to communities devastated by the catastrophic floods in Nepal, as the death toll rises above 1,250 and more than 4,200 people remain missing.
Shiva Charity has worked with Water Survival Box to enable the mobilisation of 200 boxes of emergency supplies - around four tonnes of aid on 10 pallets - and has secured a charitable airlift to Kathmandu through Airlink.
The charity has already donated £7,500 to Water Survival Box to support the emergency response, while teams in Nepal are working with local organisations to identify communities where help is most urgently needed.
The challenge is not simply getting aid into Nepal, it is getting it to the people who need it most.
Roads and bridges have been destroyed, mountain routes are treacherous after the monsoon rains, and some communities remain extremely difficult to reach. Shiva Charity is working with Community Development Centre Nepal, JCI Kavre and REACT, a disaster-response organisation involving former British military personnel, to coordinate logistics and delivery.
Shiva's three-person Nepal team - Pujan, Devraj and Ronee - are already working on the ground. Their local knowledge and relationships are proving vital in identifying communities that could otherwise be missed.
Pujan, who has been visiting affected areas, described the situation in stark terms:
“The smell of death in the valley was overwhelming.”
Tony Hobden, CEO of Shiva Charity, said:
“This is an enormous disaster and the scale of the need is almost impossible to comprehend. Our priority is to move quickly, but also to make sure that aid gets to the right people. There is no point sending aid somewhere simply because it is accessible if the communities most in need are somewhere else.”
Shiva Charity has 31 years of experience working in Nepal, including its response to the 2015 earthquake. But Tony says the current disaster presents an entirely different logistical challenge.
“The mountain roads are incredibly difficult. They are small, muddy and treacherous, and we are hearing of vehicles sliding off roads and down the mountainside. This is why working with people who know the terrain, the communities and the logistics is so important.”
Every donation goes into the relief response
Shiva Charity is urging the public to support its emergency appeal.
No administration costs are being deducted from donations. Money raised is being used for the relief response, with unavoidable direct logistical costs such as local trucks, drivers and feeding volunteers.
The emergency appeal has already raised around £27,000, including great support from specialist trekking company Mountain Kingdoms, but significantly more is needed as the scale of the disaster becomes clearer.
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From a tiny pink scooter to emergency relief
The emergency response is a pivot from the charity's Scoot 4 Nepal campaign, in which Tony Hobden will attempt a 1,000km charity ride across Nepal's notoriously difficult mountain roads in November 2026 - on a tiny 125cc pink scooter.
The original challenge is raising money to provide water purification systems for schools, helping protect children from illness caused by unsafe drinking water.
The focus for now has shifted firmly to the emergency, although water purification units will be crucial in the mid-term disaster response.
“The scooter challenge is still happening, but right now Nepal needs us to respond to this disaster,” said Tony.
