Some citizens of Nepal living in Mississippi are working to raise money for those impacted by the devastating earthquake that affected the small, Asian country over the weekend. The Nepali's say their country is in desperate need of supplies.
Bidusha Aryal is a graduate student at Mississippi College in Clinton, but originally from Kathmandu. She says the last week has been difficult for her.
"Our family is safe, but we have lost our property and lots of people [have] died," says Aryal. "That was so scary. We looked online, we looked at the news and the Facebook [at the] pictures that are so distracting."
The 7.8 magnitude quake has left at least 5,000 people dead, and nearly 1.5 million displaced. Bidusha along with her fellow students from Nepal are asking Mississippians to donate to relief efforts for the small, Asian country.
Marilynn Grossman is with the Red Cross in Mississippi. She says specialists are already on the ground distributing supplies.
"American Red Cross has sent about eight disaster specialists to Nepal," Grossman says. "Those disaster specialists are supporting emergency relief. The things that we're providing are like the tarps, buckets, kitchen sets, blankets, mosquito nets. You know people need help with their sheltering at this point."
While Nepal is in desperate need of supplies, Bidusha says what her country really needs is prayers and blessings.
