The owner of an Indian restaurant in Falmouth who was in Nepal when a devastating earthquake ripped through the country has returned to deliver aid he has been collecting.

Ram Sharma, known as Hem, raised close to £15,000 since returning from the country of his birth, which he was visiting when disaster struck, killing thousands and making millions homeless, on April 25.

Now he is returning with fellow Falmouth businessman Jason Wilkinson, carrying as much aid as they can fit into their suitcases, and with much more being sent by storage, while they also have around £10,000 to spend on helping communities while they are away.

As well as raising around £10,500 with events at his Arwenack Street restaurant Balti Curries, Hem has also collected around 200 kilos of goods from local businesses such as chemists, including plasters, dressings, antiseptics, toothbrushes and other hygiene products, baby products, colouring books and pens and pencils, as well as odd items such as vitamin lollipops.

The pair will fly out this evening from Heathrow, arriving at the Nepali capital Kathmandu on Saturday before being sent to an area where aid is most needed. They will personally carry around 100 kilos of luggage, with only the bare essential for themselves, with the rest travelling via cargo.

Hem has been asked why he was not simply donating the money to be handed out through official channels, and said: "I promised everybody when they gave the the money that I would give the money away myself."

He had originally hoped to go back to a village where he helped in the immediate aftermath of the first quake, having raised £3,000 before he returned to the UK, but has been told he will be directed by Nepalese officials to wherever help is needed.

He said: "We haver to take instructions from the Nepalese government. We have to listen to them to find where we should go, and when we get there we have to have permission [for the work we do].

"I need to do more things now, working with the government , so I can do more in the future, and open more doors."

This isn't the first time Hem has carried out work for charity, having previously organised for a fire engine to be sent from Cornwall to a Nepalese village, and for the same community to have two ambulances, and has also helped closer to home, holding several fundraisers for Children's Hospice South West.

He is now trying to raise money to provide temporary learning spaces in Nepal as nearly a million children are currently unable to return to school.

He held a recent fundraiser for this project at Truro School, and has set up a page at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/nepal-earthquake-schools