Thousands of pounds have been raised in Hampshire already to help people affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal

People across the county spent days desperately trying to get in touch with friends and family who were living or travelling in the Asian country when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook the country.

Now, as the death toll continues to rise Hampshire organisations are doing all they can to help the survivors.

Among them is The Himalayan People's Project which raised more than £2,500 in the first 24 hours.

Beth Halford, 30, from Romsey, who runs the charity, has been in Nepal for eight months as part of a project to build an orphanage and health centre.

She told how she had been in a cafe in capital city Kathmandu at the time of Saturday's quake which caused the walls to crumble around her - but she escaped with just cuts and bruises from falling masonry.

The former Romsey School pupil and Peter Symonds College student, pictured below, said: “The cafe was in a courtyard surrounded by four unstable looking walls, not unusual for Kathmandu.

“As we got up to get away from one of them we soon realised we were in a very dangerous situation with a real risk all four walls could come right down on us.

“As we moved away from one a whole wall began to collapse as we struggled to stay on our feet with the ground moving so violently under us.”

Her mum, Sue spoke of her horror when she heard her daughter had been caught up in the quake.

The 57-year-old from Romsey said: “My stomach hit the floor and my heart hit my mouth. Then I came downstairs and went on the computer and she had left me a message.”

Beth said people are now living in fear of the next quake and concerned about food and water supplies running out.

She has now launched a rescue mission to provide food, water and shelter to survivors in the badly damaged remote villages of Thame and Thamo.

The UK Nepal Friendship Society, the Eastleigh Gurkha and Nepalese Association, Nepalese Help and Rigul Trust have all also launched appeals.

Other organisations have begun raising money for the Disasters Emergency Committee Nepal Earthquake Appeal - a team of 13 charities that have begun carrying out assessments on how to help and handing out food supplies, water purification tablets and tarpaulin in the worst hit areas.

Meanwhile, Hampshire County Council has begun providing support to the county's Nepalese communities, including providing bereavement counselling for schoolchildren who may have lost loved ones in the earthquake.

Council staff whose relatives have died or who are missing are also being offered support through its Wellbeing Helpline.

A spokesman said: “We extend our sincere sympathies to all those affected by this tragic event, to the families of those who have lost their lives in such tragic circumstances, or who have been injured or left homeless.

“The Nepalese communities living here in Hampshire are in our thoughts and prayers. We recognise that this must be an extremely distressing and worrying time and we are doing what we can to provide assistance.”