The Nepali community in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales has raised Rs 1,238,660 (AUD $11,273) for families affected by last month's floods in Nepal, through an evening fundraising event held at a local hall in Katoomba.
The Blue Mountains Nepali Community organised the event together with the wider local Katoomba community, according to a Nepali media portal's report. Volunteers cooked traditional Nepali dishes for attendees, and the evening featured Nepali music and cultural performances alongside the fundraising appeal, giving local Australians a chance to engage directly with Nepali food and culture while contributing. Around 200 people attended organisers said this was far more than they had expected.
All funds raised have been transferred to Nepal's Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund, the government's official channel for flood relief and rescue operations, organisers said.
Part of a broader Australian response
The Blue Mountains event is one of several efforts underway across Australia's Nepali community, which numbers more than 213,000 people nationally. Separately, the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) Australia launched its own emergency relief fundraiser shortly after the floods struck, describing the scale of the disaster to potential donors and directing contributions toward affected families in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and surrounding districts.
Australian institutions have also mobilised support alongside diaspora efforts. The Australian Red Cross ring-fenced part of its Global Emergency Fund specifically for the Nepal response, directing all donations made between August 27 and September 30 toward relief work carried out by the Nepal Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. UNICEF Australia, Caritas Australia and a coalition of Australian aid agencies under the Emergency Action Alliance have run parallel appeals. Separately, the Australian government has contributed AUD 2 million to the UN World Food Programme's emergency food and logistics operations in flood-affected districts, according to a Nepali media portal.
What Australia-based readers can do
Blue Mountains Nepali Community and similar local groups continue to accept contributions for future community-organised transfers to Nepal's official relief fund check with your local Nepali association for upcoming events.
NRNA Australia's fundraiser remains active for those who want to contribute through an established diaspora organisation.
Australian Red Cross, UNICEF Australia, and Caritas Australia all have dedicated, ongoing appeals specifically for the Nepal floods, for donors who prefer to give through a registered Australian charity.
As with any disaster fundraising, confirm you are donating through an organisation's official page, and be aware that with multiple groups collecting separately from local community associations to national charities it isn't always possible to track a single combined total raised across Australia.
