On the 25th of April, at around 11:45 am, we heard a sudden rumbling and felt the earth moving at our operations facility in Siliguri – a city that is located in north Bengal and close to the international borders of Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. We quickly rushed out of the building, scrambling for safety. A little later we learnt that what we had felt were tremors from an earthquake that had hit Nepal that day. Measuring 7.8 on the richter scale, this is the worst earthquake to have hit Nepal in the last 80 years. Just to put the magnitude of the catastrophe in perspective, one of the experts has likened it to 20 thermonuclear hydrogen bombs – each many times greater than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima – ripping through the Kathmandu Valley.
We, at Teabox, have an apparent Nepalese gene which goes much beyond us sourcing and distributing fine teas from Nepal. Since Nepal is just about an hours drive from Siliguri, our sourcing team travels to Nepal regularly. Moreover, Balaji, who manages our Nepalese tea sourcing is from there and joined us last year after having worked in the Nepalese tea industry for 5 years. The head of our Darjeeling sourcing team, Gopal, also comes from Nepal’s Gorkha district; he still has many members of his family there, including his in-laws. The Gorkha district has been one of the worst affected regions in this earthquake.
In the aftermath of the quake, which has thus far claimed lives of 2,430 people and leaving more than 6,200 injured, nations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and relief agencies have geared up to deliver personnel, supplies, food, medicine and financial assistance to Nepal.
To express our support and solidarity, we are helping raise funds to aid relief programs in Nepal led by UNICEF.We have put in place a Crowdrisecampaignto raise $5000 for UNICEF a global organisation presently working in various areas affected by the earthquake in Nepal, providinghumanitarian and developmental assistance to the nation. Teabox has made a donation of $2000 to the campaign and we invite you to join us in this effort toachieve the$5000 target.
Joinus in this effort to assist the people of Nepal, in recovering and rebuilding their lives.
To know more about Nepal Earthquake Appeal – A TeaboxCrowdrise campaign and make a donation, visit:https://www.crowdrise.com/nepalearthquakeappeal/fundraiser/teaboxteam
