Romanian alpinist raises EUR 100,000 to help earthquake-stricken Nepal

The “Joy for Nepal” fundraising campaign initiated by Romanian alpinist Alex Gavan to finance post-earthquake reconstruction projects in Nepal has raised over EUR 100,000 worth of donations. Almost two-thirds of the money (EUR 62,000) came from EUR 2 donations made via SMS via the donatie.ro fundraising platform. The campaign ended on July 31 and the money will be transferred to the project in September. The rest of the money (almost EUR 39,000) came from private donations, company sponsorships, and various charities. All the money raised so far will be transferred to the Karuna-Shechen organization, founded by French writer Matthieu Richard, which manages reconstruction projects in Nepal. The fundraising campaign will continue on Alex Gavan’s website and various other channels. Alex Gavan, 33, is one of Romania’s most successful alpinists. He is the youngest Romanian who climbed an eight thousand meter peak, in 2006. Since then he has climbed six peaks over 8,000 meters without oxygen. Gavan was in Nepal, in an expedition to conquer the 8,516 meter Lhotse peak, when several disastrous earthquakes hit the country. The biggest earthquake took place on April 25 and had 7.8 degrees on the Richter scale. It affected Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and killed over 8,500 people. Young Romanian sells personal stuff to go to Nepal as volunteer Two Romanian alpinists start separate expeditions in the Himalayas editor@romania-insider.com