Isle of Man village rallies for Nepal flood victims

**Isle of Man village rallies for Nepal flood victims**

**Kirk Michael has been twinned with Ghamrang since 1993**

A village in the Isle of Man will be collecting money this weekend for people affected by the recent deadly flash floods in Nepal.

Kirk Michael and Ghamrang in Nepal have been connected through a charity since 1993.

Money raised from a raffle and bake sale at the village fair will be donated to the Pahar Trust Nepal, which constructs and restores earthquake-resistant schools, health centres and sanitation facilities in remote mountain villages.

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

Kirk Michael's connection with Ghamrang, a village in Lamjung district, west Nepal, is one of the reasons the Pahar Trust was created in the first place.

It began 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, learned about it and invited Langridge to talk to pupils.

Kirk Michael later raised funds for a second school in Ghamrang.

The two villages were twinned, and the Pahar Trust Nepal was established.

The charity has since built about 30 schools across the country.

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

Money from Sunday's event will support the wider Nepal relief effort through the existing Pahar Trust partnership.

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

The death toll has kept rising in the days since, with more than 1,200 now believed to have died, while thousands more are missing.

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