I'd like to ask for your help in raising money for Nepal. 

Kathmandu was hit by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday, further disrupting the relief work that has been carried out since the first earthquake (8.1) hit on 25 April. 

Quakes of over 8 in magnitude occur around once a year and rarely so close to populated areas. And Nepal's infrastructure - though beautiful - was in no way designed to withstand such forces. 

The last quake of that magnitude to strike Nepal was mostly outside of living memory. Much of Nepal now lies 3m further south than it did before April. 

I was extremely lucky to have been in a modern building on the outskirts of Kathmandu when the first quake hit. All we suffered were power outages, a lack of communication with the outside world and a lack of sleep from quite relentless tremors - the ground felt like a blow-up mattress. 

But a village down the road had 135 out of 165 of its buildings reduced to rubble with dozens of its inhabitants trapped or killed. 

As the tremors started becoming less frequent on the third day, we took local food and medical supplies to one of the worst affected towns. That was the first time this town had received any support from outside. The army arrived while we were there to begin the odious task of extracting bodies from the piles of bricks that had once sheltered the villagers. And sickness from drinking contaminated water was starting to spread. 

The central parts of the country have been hammered by scores of aftershocks, concentrated over the end of April, but continuing since. Kathmandu has been the centre of aid efforts but it has been difficult for teams to reach villages even a short distance away.

The sheer number of isolated villages precariously connected by blocked or damaged roads in need of help makes the task of distribution a painstakingly slow one. 

The earthquakes have so far taken over eight thousand lives. But there will be many villages not yet factored into this count. 

And almost as sad is the prospect that once the media attention finally fades away, most of central Nepal will still be without a home for at least a year, eking out an existence in the few communal tents that have actually reached them. Life will be on standstill. 

A government official with whom we coordinated delivering supplies has been in contact since to ask if there is any more that we could do. Giving some money to some of the charities working in Nepal is the obvious choice, however slow the relief work is. 

Global Giving works with a range of charities contributing in different ways at different stages from rapid response and medical aid to longer-term reconstruction and I think they're a good choice. 

Nepal is a poor country, heavily reliant on its tourism industry. But its Everest base camp was wiped out by an avalanche, while its iconic buildings no longer exist to draw people in. It needs all the international help it can get.

I’d be happy if we could reach £250 and have this doubled by Argus coffers.