Together for Nepal — Supporting Families Affected by the 2026 Bhote Koshi Flood
On 26 August 2026, a glacier collapse near the Nepal–China border sent a debris flow and flash flood nearly 100 kilometres down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers. Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, the valleys just north of Kathmandu, took the worst of it. Settlements, bridges, roads and health posts were destroyed. If you would like to help, you can give directly to the Government of Nepal's Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund. Dharma Tool does not collect, receive, process or handle any part of your donation.
Donate to the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund
Cards, NepalPay QR, FonePay QR, connectIPS, eSewa and UPI accepted. Donations can be made in USD or NPR from anywhere in the world. You will leave dharmatool.com and go straight to the official portal operated by Nepal Clearing House Ltd.
Donate on the Official Nepal Relief Fund Portal →An honest note. Dharma Tool is not a charity and we are not fundraising. We do not collect, receive, process or handle any of these donations, and we do not receive any portion of your contribution. The button above is a plain outbound link to the Government of Nepal's own donation portal. Nothing on this page asks you to buy anything, and giving is in no way connected to any order with us.
Dharma Tool Operations Are Normal
We are based in Thamel-29, Kathmandu, well away from the flood path. Everyone at Dharma Tool is safe and accounted for, and the artisan families we work with in the Kathmandu valley are unaffected. Healer selection, packing and DHL Express dispatch are all running to schedule and orders are shipping normally. If anything changes for your particular order, we will contact you directly rather than leaving you to wonder.
What Happened
Early on the morning of Wednesday 26 August 2026, a large section of glacier and mountainside failed in the Langtang area near the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The resulting debris avalanche and flood travelled down the Bhote Koshi into the Trishuli valley with enough force that it first registered on seismic instruments as an earthquake.
Rasuwa district is the worst affected, with Nuwakot also badly hit. Communities along the river lost homes, farmland, bridges, roads and health posts, and some villages are now reachable only by helicopter. Hundreds of people have been confirmed dead and well over a thousand were still missing in the days after the flood, including trekking guides and travellers from many countries. Aid agencies estimate that thousands of households need immediate shelter, food and medical relief.
Rasuwa was still rebuilding from the 2015 earthquake when this happened. Families who had been resettled onto the lower river terraces after that disaster are among those who have lost everything for a second time.
Why Dharma Tool Is Sharing This
Everything Dharma Tool sells is made in Nepal, by hand, by artisan families in the Kathmandu valley. Our founders live and work in Kathmandu. The rivers that flooded run through districts our neighbours, suppliers and friends come from. This is not a distant news story to us.
Supporting the communities our craft comes from is not new for us — it is set out on our Dharma and Karma page. But a disaster of this scale needs the national relief system, not a shop's own appeal. We do not have the standing or the accounting structure to run one, and we would not ask you to send relief money to a singing bowl business. What we do have is a platform and customers around the world, so we are using it to point at the official channel and explain clearly how to use it.
How to Donate
If you are giving a large amount and your card issuer declines it, the portal advises arranging a SWIFT transfer through your own bank instead.
Where the Money Goes
Other Ways to Help
- Share the official link. Awareness of the correct portal matters. Disasters attract fraudulent appeals, and the more people who see the genuine government address, the fewer are misdirected.
- Give to an established relief agency instead if you prefer. Several international organisations with long histories in Nepal are running medical and shelter responses. Give to one you already trust rather than to a page that found you.
- Dedicate your practice. Many of the people who read this page sit, chant or hold sound sessions regularly. If that is your practice, dedicating it to those affected is a real thing to offer. We would only add that the relief effort also needs money, and the two are not alternatives.
- Keep buying Nepali. Not from us specifically — from anyone. Nepal's handicraft and export trades support a great many households, and the steadiest long-term help the country gets is ordinary commerce continuing while the relief effort runs.
Verify Before You Give
Check the address bar reads pmdrf.nchl.com.np before entering any card details. Dharma Tool will never email, message or telephone you asking for a donation, and we will never ask you to send relief money to us, to our staff, or to any account associated with our business. Any message claiming otherwise is not from us.
Common Questions
Does Dharma Tool receive any part of my donation?
No. We do not collect, receive, process or handle any donation made through this page. The button is an outbound link to the Government of Nepal's own portal, operated by Nepal Clearing House Ltd. Your payment goes to the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund and nothing is routed through us or shared with us. We do not see your donation, your amount, or your details.
What exactly happened in Nepal in August 2026?
On 26 August 2026, a large glacier and slope failure in the Langtang area near the Nepal–China border produced a debris avalanche and flash flood. It travelled roughly 100 kilometres down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers, striking Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts north of Kathmandu. It was not ordinary monsoon flooding, though the monsoon season contributed to unstable ground and complicated the rescue effort.
Can I donate from outside Nepal?
Yes. The portal is built for international giving. It accepts debit and credit cards from most countries with 3D Secure verification, and supports donations in USD as well as NPR. QR options cover connectIPS, mobile banking, wallets, AliPay+, eSewa, UPI India and UnionPay. If a large card payment is declined by your issuing bank, the portal recommends a SWIFT transfer arranged through your own bank.
Is my donation tax deductible?
That depends entirely on where you are a taxpayer, and we cannot advise you on it. A donation to a foreign government fund is generally not deductible in most countries, including Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. If deductibility matters to you, ask your accountant, or give instead to a registered charity in your own country that is running a Nepal flood appeal.
Are Dharma Tool and its artisans affected? Will my order be delayed?
No. We are based in Thamel-29, Kathmandu, well outside the flood path, and everyone here is safe. The artisan families we work with across the Kathmandu valley are unaffected and at work. Operations are entirely normal — healer selection continues to take 3 to 4 days before dispatch, and orders ship worldwide by DHL Express with full tracking as usual. If anything changes for your order, we will contact you directly.
Is Dharma Tool donating as a company?
Any contribution we make as a business is a private matter between us and our team, and we are not going to publicise it as a marketing claim. This page exists to point at the official channel, not to advertise ourselves. We are also not running a percentage-of-sales promotion, because tying relief to purchases turns a disaster into a sales device.
How do I avoid fraudulent flood appeals?
Give only through addresses you have verified yourself. For the government fund, the correct address is pmdrf.nchl.com.np — check it in the address bar before entering card details. Treat unsolicited emails, social media messages and phone calls asking for flood donations with suspicion, particularly any that claim to be from Dharma Tool. We will never contact you asking for money for relief.
Can I help by buying something?
Buying a bowl from us is not a donation and we would rather you did not think of it as one. If you want to help flood-affected families, give to the relief fund. If you want an instrument made by Nepali hands, buy one because you want it. Ordinary trade keeps artisan families in work year-round, which genuinely matters, but it is a separate thing from disaster relief and we are not going to blur the two.
Elsewhere on Dharma Tool
This page was last updated on 29 August 2026. Casualty figures and relief needs are changing daily; for current information, follow reporting from the Government of Nepal and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Together for Nepal.
— Dharma Tool, Thamel-29, Kathmandu