Volunteers (in red shirts) of Fuel Relief Fund (FRF) providing free fuel in flood-affected areas in Nepal.
On Thursday, the group left with 210 litres of fuel for Dhunche, one of the areas badly affected by the floods, despite difficult road conditions.
Lee said five more FRF volunteers would join the team in Nepal within days, expanding its relief operations. “Reaching there is difficult because of the poor roads, but we are determined to extend our help,” he said. I haven’t seen anyone else doing this so far,” he said.
Saurab Rimal, founder of Nepal-based NGO Karmayog Foundation, which is also involved in relief work, praised the initiative. “What they are doing is really appreciable in this situation. Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.
Dehradun: More than 800 litres of free petrol and diesel have reached hospitals, relief camps and people in flood-hit parts of Nepal through a three-member volunteer team from the US, which even used heavy-lift drones and zip-lines to move fuel into areas where roads and access routes had been washed away. Lee told TOI that FRF, a volunteer-based organisation operating since 2005, had supplied fuel during nearly 30 disasters, including earthquakes in Turkey, Venezuela, Nepal and Haiti, besides emergencies in Morocco, Mozambique, the Philippines and the US. “We have so far distributed more than 800 litres of petrol and diesel to people and agencies in need.
The volunteers, working with the Fuel Relief Fund (FRF), have spent the past five days procuring fuel locally and distributing it according to need, while also supplying LPG cylinders to relief camps running community kitchens. “Our organisation works purely on funds raised through donations,” he said. Lee said FRF used those donations to buy fuel from local sources in disaster-hit countries rather than transporting supplies from abroad. We understand the value of this critical resource in situations like this, and our priorities are hospitals and relief camps,” he said. “We have transported free fuel using heavy-lift drones and zip-lines where accessibility was washed away, and we also work with local associates to make sure it reaches those who actually need it,” Lee said. His co-volunteer Katherine said the team had also supplied LPG cylinders to remote relief camps after community kitchens began running short of cooking fuel. We will continue despite the challenges,” she said.
Joseph Lee, a retired firefighter from Texas, and two other FRF volunteers travelled to Nepal as part of the organisation’s disaster-response effort. Connectivity remained the biggest challenge, with several roads and approaches destroyed by the floods. “Many community kitchens were short of cooking fuel, so we provided LPG cylinders to ensure survivors continued getting meals.
