URGENT fundraising is beginning in a North Yorkshire Garrison town where its large Nepalese community are waiting for news from loved ones caught up in the devastating earthquake.

Catterick has a Nepalese population of nearly 1,400, many who came to the town to serve in the famed Gurkha regiment.

Duncan Laws, from the Armed Forces charity Ssafa, works with the community and has helped organise collections which will be donated to Nepal via the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

He said: “We have collection buckets all over the place here in different shops. There’s an event planned in Tesco early next week and we’ve started street collections in Richmond.”

Sushma Sunuwar, who works as an interpreter, is desperately awaiting news from her family in the Ramechap district.

Mrs Sunuwar, from Hipswell, said communication with the stricken country was almost impossible, as mobile phone masts and landlines are down. Her relatives were given a two-minute phone call to let everyone know they were okay. Like everyone else in her family’s village, they are now living in tents in a field.

She said the initial tremors cracked the houses in her village and the aftershocks brought many of them down.

“It’s really heartbreaking," she said. "You can see it all on TV, but not speak to them. Our houses were really strong – they were newly built. My family are okay, but they’re homeless now. They are all outside in fields in tents. I know they are unhurt, but after that I don’t know how they are coping, whether they are eating, if they have water, or if a relief team has got to them.”

Yem Bahadur Gurung, from Catterick Garrison, whose daughter and son-in-law live on camp, comes from the scenic tourist spot of Leich Side, near the city of Pokhara. The city has so far only reported two dead, but he said getting aid to the area will prove difficult.

He said: “Every country is now supporting our country, but how that aid is distributed is very difficult. It’s a very spread out, rural area and it’s not good weather - it is the rainy season. It’s very difficult for the rescue groups in the countryside. It’s going to be difficult to land helicopters.”

Jagannath Sharma, also from Catterick Garrison, is an executive member of the British Ghurkha and Nepalese Community (BGNC).

He visited the Nepalese Embassy in London on Saturday for talks about how to co-ordinate the humanitarian aid response.

Dr Sharma, principal physiotherapist at ITC Catterick Garrison, held an emergency meeting on Monday night (April 27) where a steering group was set up to co-ordinate local aid donations and distribution. They are now approaching local businesses and are organising street collections in the district.

He said: “We want to make sure every penny goes to the right people in the right area.”

Anyone wanting to help Mr Sharma in fundraising can email him at jaga_s9@yahoo.com