A regional daily has joined forces with charity Unicef for an appeal supporting the victims of the Nepal earthquake.

The Eastern Daily Press carried a front page appeal yesterday (Tues), calling on its readers to donate funds towards the humanitarian effort following Saturday’s earthquake.

More than 4,000 people have died and nearly 1m children are living in areas hit by the earthquake.

The EDP is asking its readers to rally round to support Unicef’s efforts to help the affected communities, where there are low supplies of food and water, power outages and thousands sleeping in the streets in fear of more tremors.

Editor Nigel Pickover told readers: “The scenes from this mountain kingdom are heartbreaking – not only in the capital but in isolated towns and villages where power and communications are shattered and also Everest where many lives have been lost.

“Our EDP family has a great sense of ‘world community’ at times of tragedy so we’re hoping we can rally everyone to the cause once more – raising money which will help in the rebuilding programme in weeks and months to come.

“We also know of many deaths in India and Bangladesh so we hope other countries can be helped by a unified world effort.”

Since the 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck, there have been around 60 aftershocks.

Children are thought to be particularly at risk following the earthquake because of the limited access to safe water and sanitation.

Unicef is mobilising staff and emergency supplies, and is supporting work to transfer water and provide oral rehydration salts and zinc supplements.

The children’s charity is also preparing two cargo flights to carry a combined 120 tonnes of humanitarian supplies including medical and hospital supplies, tents and blankets.

Unicef UK executive director David Bull said: “With children accounting for half the country’s population, we fear loss of life and great disruption to children’s lives, as homes and schools have been destroyed.

“Unicef has been working in Nepal for over 40 years so our experience and local knowledge is huge.

“But we can’t do it alone. Just £5 could help to provide an emergency water kit that will enable a family to collect, store and even purify water.”

The EDP is urging its readers to donate £5 to Unicef by texting DONATE to 70060 or visiting Unicef’s website.