Nepal: who's carrying our support forward, on the ground

Update - September 16, 2026

Simonetta Civran, who leads AGDM, updated us on Saturday by phone and again in writing yesterday. We want to share what she told us, in full.

The numbers, so far

AGDM has already sent €16,000 for immediate relief. Another roughly €30,000, received from all of its supporters up to September 15, is earmarked for the "Recovery" phase - the actual reconstruction work.

Our contribution is part of that whole. Thanks to everyone who has donated with us, we've raised €29,597. The first €16,151 went to AGDM two weeks ago. €13,446 remains in our account, which we'll send as soon as AGDM gives us the go-ahead - it too will go toward reconstruction.

A situation harder than expected

AGDM's Nepali contacts describe this emergency as even harder than the 2015 earthquake. Back then, survivors could get to work right away: clearing debris where possible, salvaging bricks and belongings, building shelters, starting to rebuild with their own hands. After this flood, by contrast, almost everything is in the government's hands, and people can do very little on their own.

The amount of mud to be cleared is immense. Roads and bridges have disappeared. The main route connecting Kathmandu to Pokhara and to India is damaged and cut off in several places, because it ran alongside the Trisuli River - the same river overrun by the wall of water and mud that came down from the collapsed Langtang Lirung glacier, a 7,000-meter peak north of the capital. The bridges connecting the Gorkha and Arughat valleys have also disappeared, cutting off entire villages.

The government is putting most of its energy and resources - fuel included - into clearing mud and reopening roads. Making things harder still is the monsoon: its torrential rains recently turned back an Apeiron delegation on its way to Rasuwa and Nuwakot to meet local partners. Difficult access and intermittent communications mean that needs assessments on the ground are moving more slowly than anyone would like.

Children left alone, and a request for patience

Many children orphaned by the disaster have arrived in Kathmandu. The government is placing them in shelters, but - as AGDM is already flagging - a longer-term effort will be needed to support their needs and their education.

The Nepali partner organizations are asking for one thing above all: patience. We're still in the middle of the emergency phase, and the government wants to keep central coordination over the many forms of aid arriving from around the world.

What will remain, once the spotlight moves on

One thing struck us, reading Simonetta's words: both the damage left by this flood and the needs of this country won't be resolved quickly. For organizations like AGDM - and like ours - there's still a great deal of work ahead, long after this emergency stops making headlines.

One intervention already underway

Among the actions already activated, 400 mattresses, 400 blankets, and 400 winter jackets are being manufactured for Monviso Nepal Foundation - the supplier's stock had run out, and the goods are now accumulating in warehouses ahead of distribution.

We'll keep updating this page, step by step - with the same transparency AGDM continues to show us.

 

Update - September 3, 2026

Simonetta Civran, who leads AGDM, wrote to us with a new update straight from the field.

Two interventions already funded, Tuesday, September 1

Through HDCG Nepal, in collaboration with the president of the Gosainkunda rural municipality - one of the areas hit hardest by the flood - relief funds were sent for 100 families, around 500 people. They will go toward food supplies, materials to build temporary shelters, blankets and other basic necessities, hygiene and sanitation kits, and water purification products.

Through Monviso Nepal Foundation, in collaboration with other Italian organizations, a supply of clothing, mattresses, pillows, blankets, and rice was funded for 400 people from the Rasuwa area, currently sheltered at the Gosok Phuntsok Choeling monastery on the outskirts of Kathmandu.

Next week: from emergency to recovery

The funds AGDM will send in the coming days will take a different direction: restoring schools and health facilities, and strengthening protection, psychosocial support, and safety for women and children.

"Thank you for your trust in AGDM and for the solidarity you've sent us," Simonetta wrote to us.

 

Update - September 2, 2026

In recent days, AGDM's board met to decide how to allocate the first funds raised, and has already financed two immediate relief interventions.

Clothes, shoes, and small cash support for 400 displaced people

In a neighborhood of Kathmandu that hosts the Gosok Phuntsok Choeling monastery, 400 people who fled the flooding in Rasuwa have found shelter. The monastery provides food and lodging, but these families were left with nothing else. Through Monviso Nepal Foundation - an organization that coordinated the effort together with other Italian organizations, for a total of €37,000 raised - AGDM contributed €4,000 to provide clothing, underwear, shoes, and a small amount of cash per person, for their most immediate daily needs.

A relief package for 100 families in Gosainkunda

In the villages of Timure, Syafrubesi, and Thulo Syafru, in the rural municipality of Gosainkunda, around a hundred of the hardest-hit families - homes destroyed, crops lost, households with elderly members, children, or no source of income at all - will receive a relief package: rice, lentils, oil, salt, blankets, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, and water purification materials. The project, run by Hill Development and Conservation Group (HDCG), a local organization AGDM has known for some time, has a total cost of around €11,000. AGDM contributed €8,000 toward it.

Our contribution, together with that of other Italian supporters, allowed AGDM to act immediately, without waiting.

And now: from emergency to recovery

With the next funds arriving, AGDM wants to move into a second phase - no longer just the immediate emergency, but the first steps of reconstruction. Two proposals are on the table, from Apeiron and Prayas Nepal: restoring damaged schools and repairing health facilities, along with their necessary supplies. These are the projects we intend to direct the remainder of the fundraiser toward, as soon as timing and details are finalized.

 

Update - September 1, 2026

In recent days we've had the chance to learn more about who is carrying your contribution forward, on the ground.

The funds raised pass through the Associazione Giuliano De Marchi per il Nepal (AGDM), led by Simonetta Civran. It was founded in 2012 in memory of Giuliano De Marchi - a doctor and mountaineer from Belluno, Simonetta's husband - and its first project was a pediatric clinic in the city of Kirtipur.

After the April 2015 earthquake, AGDM shifted its focus toward the populations affected by the quake: building and launching school buildings, health and social facilities, funding the reconstruction of a wooden bridge destroyed by the earthquake, and providing food and comfort supplies to residents of the valleys involved. It also contributed to structural improvements at Kirtipur Hospital, and launched an eye-screening project - with glasses provided - for the district's low-income population.

Over a decade of continuous work, not an effort born out of this emergency.

For the flood response, AGDM is working with two longtime Nepali partners - Apeiron and Prayas Nepal - to figure out how to move with maximum efficiency, avoiding overlap between interventions. It has chosen not to route funds through the government channel, given the uncertainty tied to the country's recent change of government: it prefers channels and people it has known for years, and can vouch for directly.

Yesterday we also heard from Sandro De Col, a founding board member of AGDM, who wrote to thank us personally for our contribution and to share, in detail, the story of the association you are supporting. A gesture that says a lot about the care and transparency with which AGDM is handling this fundraiser.

So far, together, we've raised over €12,000. Our €2,500 has already been sent to AGDM; the rest of the funds raised will follow as soon as we have guidance on the best timing to deliver them.

We'll keep updating this page, step by step.

 

Update - August 31, 2026

The flood's death toll keeps rising: over 660 people are now confirmed dead across Nepal and Tibet, with hundreds still missing.

Our contribution passes through the Associazione Giuliano De Marchi per il Nepal (AGDM), led by Simonetta Civran. This isn't just any organization, and it wasn't born yesterday: AGDM has existed since 2015, founded by a group of friends in memory of Giuliano De Marchi - a doctor and mountaineer who died on Mount Antelao in 2009, whose dream was to help the people of Nepal's most remote villages once he retired. Since then, AGDM has worked in that land without interruption: schools, a medical clinic, a kindergarten, direct support to families and children.

In recent days, Simonetta reached out to three Nepali organizations AGDM has worked with for years, to understand how they were responding to the emergency: PRAYAS Nepal, Hill Development and Conservation Group Nepal, and Apeiron. She received detailed, transparent answers from all three. AGDM's board is now deciding how best to distribute support among them, to get help where it's needed most.

With the same approach we recognize as our own - human, warm, and at the same time rigorous and professional - AGDM chose not to route funds through the Nepali government channel: too much uncertainty, amid deep instability, over where public funds actually end up. Better the channels it knows well, and can vouch for directly.