A NEWPORT charity has collected three tons of mobility equipment and medical supplies to help the disabled and injured survivors of the recent Nepal earthquakes.
The equipment, collected by disability charity ResponsABLE assistance, is to be sent out as soon as the runway is safe to land in Nepal after a second earthquake struck the country on Tuesday.
On April 25, the Gorkha earthquake rocked Nepal killing more 8,000 people and injuring thousands, many of whom will be disabled for life.
ResponsABLE Assistance, a Newport-based not-for-profit organisation, have previously coordinated relief in 2005 for survivors of the Kashmir earthquake and in 2010 for the Haiti earthquake with international aid charity Merlin, now part of Save the Children.
In conjunction with Welsh partner Wheelie Good Idea, ResponsABLE assistance has delivered more than three tons of mobility and medical equipment to the Save the Children emergency depot to be air freighted to Kathmandu as soon as possible.
Trevor Palmer, founder of ResponsABLE Assistance, said the charity had collected wheelchairs, walking sticks, crutches, commodes and physiotherapy beds for the disabled survivors of the earthquake.
“We just help out wherever we can, this was such a big effort we’ve literally used up all our money,” he added. “The whole ethos is to help disabled people in disaster areas.”
Mr Palmer, a full-time wheelchair user who suffers from multiple sclerosis, said the charity was set up after the Tsunami in 2010 in Indonesia.
“What inspired me was seeing an emergency school being set up on TV. It just rang an alarm bell, I just thought ‘this is not accessible for disabled people’,” he added.
“I’ve worked in the Far East, I know that if disabled people don’t integrate there, your life doesn’t exist.”
Mr Palmer sold his handbag business three years ago and now uses his Newport warehouse for charity efforts.
The charity is also currently linking up with organisations in the Kibwezi and Embu districts of Kenya with ResponsABLE assistance representatives Vaughan Temby and Katie Johnson recently visiting the areas to create equipment, distribution and assembly networks.
The charity now desperately needs funds to continue its Kenya project and be ready for the next disaster.
To find out more and to donate visit responsableassistance.org
Photos: Lorna Cabble.
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