New York designer Prabal Gurung is raising funds to help those affected by Saturday's devastating earthquake in his native Nepal.  On April 25, a major earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale devastated Nepal. The earthquake’s destructive power saw tremors reach as far away as Tibet, India and Bangladesh. To date, 3,726 deaths and 6,515 injuries have been recorded. Tragically, as aftershocks continue to ripple through the capital city of Kathmandu, the death toll is expected to rise.

New York-based designer Prabal Gurung, who was born in Singapore but raised in Kathmandu, first heard of the disaster from friends and family in Nepal. The fashion designer swiftly re-purposed his non-profit organisation, the Shikshya Foundation, which is normally aimed at providing education for underprivileged Nepalese children, as a vehicle to rapidly crowdsource funds, using the platform Crowdrise, to aid those affected by the disaster.

Gurung is seeking the support of industry colleagues and his community of followers in his drive to raise funding to help the victims of the disaster. Tens of thousands of dollars has been donated since the campaign’s inception. As of the afternoon of Monday, April 27, the fund had already raised $222,882, $10,000 of which was donated by the CFDA.

Gurung plans to continue working with CFDA and "would love to reach out to other designers to work on a project with me to raise funds. I want the global fashion community to be open-minded about it. Hopefully they will be welcoming to the idea and can come together for this good cause.”