Prince Harry extends Nepal stay, to work for relief project

Impressed by Nepal's natural beauty and in order to work for the reconstruction of a school devastated by an earthquake on April 25 last year, Britain's Prince Harry has decided to extend his stay in the Himalayan nation.

After the end of his official tour of Nepal on Wednesday, Prince Harry will remain in Nepal to work with Team Rubicon UK on an earthquake relief project, the British Embassy in Kathmandu announced on Wednesday.

As his official visit ended on Wednesday, his decision to spend another six days in Nepal surprised all.

"The people I have met and the beauty of this country make it very hard to leave. Thankfully, however, I'm not leaving just yet! I will be spending the next six days in a remote village with a charity called Team Rubicon," the younger son of Prince Charles said.

"The team I'm joining will be working with a community to rebuild a school damaged in the earthquake. I'm so grateful to have this opportunity at the end of my official tour to do my small bit to help this beautiful country," he said.

"I hope that everyone back home who took an interest in the tour can see that Nepal is a country that you really have to come and visit."

Team Rubicon is a disaster response charity, uniting the skills and experience of military veterans with first responders to deploy emergency response teams in the aftermath of disasters.

For the next week, Prince Harry will be embedded with Team Rubicon volunteers for the school reconstruction project, the embassy said.

The team will trek into the mountains to a quake-affected area in central Nepal, with their own equipment, to assist the local community in rebuilding the school.

Prince Harry will spend the next week camping in the mountains with his fellow volunteers and return to the UK at the end of the month, the statement added.

On April 25, 2015, a 7.8 magnitude quake struck Nepal killing around 9,000 people, injuring 23,000 and causing extensive damage.

On 12 May, a major aftershock killed more than 200 people and injured over 2,500 others.

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)