Theodora Stephan has two daughters, Anita and Sunita Williams, whom she adopted from Nepal when they were children. She was able to bring them to the Central Coast through a humanitarian effort.
Now, Stephan is part of another humanitarian effort, only this time she is trying to help bring relief to Nepal, which was struck by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake. The quake struck an area approximately 100 miles northeast of the capital city, Kathmandu, on April 25.
Her daughters are originally from Sangachok, a city close to the epicenter of the quake. Stephan said her daughters made contact with their birth families, who are still living in Nepal, and those families lost their homes in the quake but are otherwise unharmed.
It’s a frantic situation for Stephan, who is trying to coordinate relief efforts with people she knows in Nepal, while at the same time running her Los Olivos-based business.
Stephan said the country is very poor and doesn’t have a lot of infrastructure, adding that while much of the media is focused on the capital, there should also be attention given to the outlying villages.
“It’s not an interesting country to the rest of the world because they don’t have any industry except for tourism,” Stephan said. “The villages have utterly no aid.”
Thus far the quake’s death toll—according to the BBC—is estimated at more than 3,000 people.
Direct Relief, a Santa Barbara nonprofit, is taking part in the worldwide effort to send aid to Nepal. The organization is committing up to $500,000 from its general fund and making a warehouse full of medical supplies available to quake victims, said Tony Morain, director of communications for the nonprofit.
“It warrants an international response,” Morain said. “We’re making this commitment because people can’t wait for funding to come in.”
Morain said the nonprofit is mobilizing medical aid and coordinating directly with the Nepalese to make sure supplies are delivered to those in need.
The organization currently has a team on the ground and is still assessing needs, Morain added.
“It’s a very chaotic situation,” Morain said. “You can’t just send something to an airport and hope someone picks it up.”
Stephan said she likes to work with Direct Relief because they send 100 percent of their donations to the emergency without deducting anything for administrative costs.
To make a donations to Direct Relief, go to directrelief.org, where users can select Nepal as the designated recipient of their donation.
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 7, 2015.