Next Monday, the 25th will mark the one-year anniversary of the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed over 7,500 people in Nepal. While the country is still a beautiful place, there is still much that needs to be done in the recovery effort.
REI, an outdoor clothing and gear retailer, is doing their part by opening a disaster relief center at Namche Bazaar, the gateway to the Mt. Everest Base Center. The relief center is spearheaded by REI Adventures, a travel agency branch of the company, and the brand decided to open the center after coming up with ways to stay involved in the area despite having to cancel all of their scheduled trips there.
According to Mashable, REI has raised over $900,000 and the construction of the relief center is nearly complete after getting underway in January. REI Adventures general manager Cynthia Dunbar said that the relief center will allow the local Nepalese people to have better access to desperately needed supplies.
“The local people really felt so vulnerable because they didn’t have a way to get emergency supplies like we do with the Red Cross….they do have a lot of natural disasters that happen all the time.”
Dunbar said the relief center would be used for aid after a flood, avalanche, or earthquake.
(Via Mashable)
