For Nepalese workers in Qatar, quake tragedy hits hard

For seven years, Pralhad Ghimire sent back money from his job as a scaffolder in Qatar to build a home just outside the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.

Now the two-storey, eight-roomed house is gone and Ghimire -- like many Nepalese workers abroad -- can't even afford to fly home to help his family.

"My home is totally destroyed... there is nothing left" he told AFP.

The 7.8-magnitude quake that hit Nepal on Saturday has killed more than 5,500 people and devastated the impoverished Himalayan nation.

Some 400,000 Nepalese live and work in Qatar, the second-largest group by country after the Indian population.

Many Nepalese work in construction and are often among the lowest earners in the energy-rich Gulf state.

Ghimire's family -- his mother and father, wife and two boys aged 10 and seven -- survived the quake but now live on the streets and have nothing to eat.

The 27-year-old is desperate to return home to help, but on his monthly salary of around 1,200 Qatari riyals ($330/300 euros), can't afford the about 1,600 riyals it would cost for a return flight.

He even asked his employer for a bonus to recognise his years of service but was refused.

He says many Nepalese are in the same predicament.

"Some are really new here and have just got a visa. If they go back how can they return to Qatar?"

Many in the local community -- Nepalese and Qatari -- are raising funds for families of those affected by the earthquake.

- Wedding postponed -

The Qatar Red Crescent has issued an emergency appeal to raise $12 million for the disaster.

And the Nepalese community is pooling its resources, however limited.

At the Nepalese Kitchen restaurant in central Doha, Raju Maharjan -- a sales manager who has spent 10 years in Qatar -- said he had postponed his marriage because of the earthquake.

"I am planning to get married but unfortunately you can see the scenario," he said, after the family home in Siddhipur was largely destroyed by the quake.

The marriage to fiancee Beena was also delayed because he donated money he had saved for the big event to the earthquake appeal.

"I can give like 30, 40 percent (of the wedding money), so that's what I did," said the 30-year-old.

In the background at the restaurant, a rolling Nepalese news channel relayed the latest grim news from home, the diners unable to take their eyes from the screen.

But beyond the sadness, they told tales of human kindness -- like of the Nepalese labourers in Doha who raised $1,400 for a plane ticket home for one of their fellow workers who lost his wife and two small children.

Another diner, Babita Shrestha, whose family home was damaged during the quake, says her one-year-old daughter survived but "is scared now".

Shrestha praised all of those in Qatar raising money for the disaster fund.

"They are very willing to help all who are the victims of this disaster... I am thankful to all of them," she said.