Tarpaulins, bedding and emergency food supplies are needed in Nepal with the rainy season scheduled to hit in June.

The small poor country in the Himalayan Mountains was hit with a magnitude 7.8 quake April 25, about 100 kilometres east of the capital Kathmandu. The earthquake killed about 8,000 and injured close to 20,000. A second major earthquake struck May 12, this time killing 125 and injuring more than 2,500.

Development and Peace is directing its aid through the Caritas Internationalis network. Water, rice and tents have either been delivered or are on their way to 20,000 Nepalese families. Before fundraising began, within hours of the news, Development and Peace had already sent $50,000 to Caritas to support efforts in Nepal.

One of Asia’s poorest countries, Nepal is dealing with some 400,000 destroyed or damaged houses and other buildings at just the moment crops need to be in the ground before monsoon season.

Nepal’s tiny Catholic community is fully engaged in distributing aid. The Catholic News Service reports that the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Assumption Parish in Lalitpur, just south of Kathmandu, has been carrying nearly 1.5 tons of rice and other food items, along with shelter materials up the mountain side near their parish. The route included five miles of a rocky and slushy steep climb.