Drop '06 has teamed up with the Lord Mayor's Earthquake Appeal...

On October 8th 2005, an earthquake similar in magnitude to the San Francisco quake of 1906 ripped through the region of Kashmir. A month later, the death toll was estimated at over 87,000.

That's only half the story, however; most of the affected areas were in mountainous regions of Pakistan. The inevitable landslides that ensued after the event made a staggering 3.3 million people homeless. According to the United Nations, over 4 million people were directly affected by the earthquake, which also caused over £2.5 billion worth of damage. Over half a million people in remote areas recieved no aid at all in the aftermath of a disaster every bit as devastating and tragic as the Boxing Day tsunami.

When the organisers of Drop In The Ocean decided to bring the festival back for a second year, it was obvious that we had to do something to help. It was also equally obvious that we should offer our services to the Lord Mayor's Earthquake Appeal. Both he and Nottingham City Council were extremely helpful when we put on the first Drop in January 2005, and the appeal has already raised over £54,000 for this extremely important cause.

Both Drop In The Ocean and the Earthquake Appeal are committed to putting all monies raised to a project that will provide lasting support and comfort to victims of the disaster - which is bourne out by the fact that one of our organisers is on the Council's steering committee (some of whom have visted the affected area - paid for out of their own pockets) and is directly involved in all decisions made. At the time of writing, we are researching a range of potential projects - please stay tuned for further developments.