For those unaware on Wednesday, August 26, 2026 a huge chunk of glacier near the Nepal/Tibet border collapsed into the Trishuli river. This resulted in utterly catastrophic flash floods, landslides and mudslides leaving at 1300 people dead in Nepal and hundreds missing as of the7th of August. Homes, bridges and entire communities have been swept away with ongoing emergency operations under threat of a second flood over the coming days. The death toll is expected to continue to rise and the true scope of the tragedy has not yet been fully established.
While our team members and their families are safe and sound in Kathmandu we feel compelled to reach out to the international community to see if we can help gather much needed financial resources to help both with the immediate emergency response and the long and hard recovery. There are two ways we hope to do this:
-We are working on using our skills to forge a beautiful, one-of-a-kind khukuri that we will raffle off to raise funds. Tickets are 20 usd each and can be purchased through the product page here. Right now this blade is just a workshop pattern but we will update the product page with pictures as it hits the forge and reaches completion. The raffle will be drawn on the 1st of october. Shipping will be free worldwide. There is no limit to the amount of raffle tickets that can be purchased per person and no cap on the total amount of raffle tickets that we will sell overall. The exact specs of this blade will be developed in tandem with community feedback through social media over the coming weeks.
-We will donate 100% of what is paid for these tickets directly to the Government Of Nepal’s Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund. It has zero fees, overheads and will ensure 100% of donations are distributed quickly and effectively. If you are looking to donate beyond purchasing raffle tickets then this is the place to do it. Donations made here are tax deductible for Nepali citizens but not for international contributors.
Depending on the size of the donation tax deductibility may be a pressing concern. If so then may be worth considering at the All Hands and Hearts Nepal Flood Relief Fundraiser. This is a registered 501(C)(3) tax-exempt public charity in the US and so donations made here are tax deductible. Beyond that they already have boots on the ground lending aid in Nepal, have extensive local networks and are highly donation efficient with CharityWatch rating All Hands and Hearts A+, with 92% of its cash budget spent on programs and a cost of $3 to raise each $100 in contributions.
For those concerned about tax deductibility and donation efficiency from other places we recommend using charitywatch to gauge donation efficiency, and looking into which charities offer deductions for your locality.
If you are having issues with our checkout or have tax deductibility concerns then we can honor donations to the links provided on this page with raffle tickets also. Just send us an email with a receipt for proof of donation to websupport@kailashblades.com and we will write the tickets up manually 🙂
