County News: Jonathan Ross’ niece, from Sussex, tells of Nepal earthquake horror

Despite another major earthquake in eastern Nepal earlier this week, Dolly Ross, 24, from Petworth, is staying in the country to help deliver food to those most in need.

Dolly, whose father is television and radio presenter, Paul Ross, brother of Jonathan Ross, is also hoping to raise as much money as possible to help the country.

Dolly said she has seen and heard stories of ‘immense human loss’.

“I’ve been helping to drop nearly ten tonnes of food packages to one of many remote villages in the hills near Gorhka, Nepal, near where the epicentre of the earthquake was,” said Dolly.

“With housing on some villages and towns there reduced to nothing but rubble and iron heaps, this is the first aid they had received at all.

“When we arrived late at night after a 14 hour and very steep drive, I couldn’t detect happiness, nor even relief on the villagers faces as I had expected.

“The village instead resonated an eerie quietness, I can only presume accrued from many days of profound and solemn patience, hoping for relief of some sort, worry for their families alongside the trauma of losing possessions, houses and livestock.

“Many villages nearby are in the same sorry state and have yet to receive any sort of donations - it remains doubtful whether they will get anything at all.

“I listened to stories of immense human loss - babies dead, their pain is real and while the emergency aid efforts will cease, the need for mental support for those affected will be desperately needed to help people recover in the aftermath.”

It has been a tense time for her mother Kerry Robertson, who lives in North Street, Petworth, and has been anxiously waiting to hear about Dolly’s mission.

Kerry said: “She’s in Kathmandu but we’ve just heard there’s been another bad quake.

“We’ve not heard from her but so far we’ve heard it’s further north east towards Everest and Kathmandu hasn’t suffered any more damage but these are early reports.”

Now Dolly is appealing to people back home to raise funds to help provide food and support for communities devastated by the earthquake.

“I’ve watched how cooperation between NGO’s and local businesses have made wonderful relief efforts happen here.

“These efforts funded with international aid are the fastest and most direct process to help people here, so all money is transmitted to them and numbers in families noted to make sure all receive something.

“If anyone can donate I can take it and put it into the hands of the right project coordinators.

“It won’t be too late to donate over the next few months with practical and emotional support to people such as orphaned children.

“You can only imagine what money can do here in recovering peoples’ hope in rebuilding their lives.”