THE Rotary Club of Okehampton has once again shown its kind-hearted nature by donating £2,500 to help the recovery in Nepal following the recent devastating earthquakes.

The club's May Fair in Simmons Park took place a week after the first huge earthquake in Nepal which caused mass devastation and loss of life.

At the fair the club displayed ShelterBox tents similar to those frequently sent to disaster areas and carried out a bucket collection during the day to support the Nepal appeal.

ShelterBox is a charity originally started by the Rotary Club in Camborne and has now become an international force.

The earthquake occurred on Saturday, April 25 at 7am and a ShelterBox response team left the UK that same evening, arriving in Nepal on Monday, April 27.

The team immediately called up 500 ShelterBoxes from store in Dubai and by Thursday, April 30, 500 emergency shelter kits already stored in Nepal had been deployed to four Nepalese hospitals. More ShelterBoxes have been arriving in Nepal since then.

The bucket collection at the May Fair and a street collection carried out in Okehampton on Saturday, May 9 raised nearly £500 for Nepal.

The club has also received cheques from generous contributors for the appeal.

The Okehampton Rotary Club, at its meeting the following Thursday, decided to contribute £2,000 from its own funds to make a total contribution of £2,500.

The Okehampton club has been in contact with the Rotary Club of Kathmandu to find out the best way of helping the Nepalese people.

Nepal has only one small airport near Kathmandu and the road system has been severely damaged or blocked by landslides so getting aid into the country is proving very difficult.

Along with other Rotary clubs in Devon, the Okehampton club has sent the money to them to help with the recovery and rebuilding of such essential infrastructure for the Nepalese people.

The Rotary club's David Potter said: 'This is an example of the international network of Rotary clubs working together to help in a time of the greatest need.

'The public can be reassured that every penny donated will be used for its intended purpose, to help the Nepalese people recover from this terrible catastrophe.'