By Susan Cunningham
Forbes Asia

This story appears in the September 2015 issue of Forbes Asia.

After a 7.8 Richter scale earthquake rocked central Nepal on April 25, Binod K. Chaudhary and two of his sons rushed from Chitwan National Park to Kathmandu to organize relief efforts. The company’s head office was heavily damaged, but no matter. He immediately ordered that eight schools operated by one of his businesses be turned into shelters, distributing the company’s famed Wai Wai instant noodles and other food, as well as juice, water and medical supplies. He also arranged for health care workers to reach victims in the 12 districts most severely hit by the country’s worst natural disaster in 81 years.

The quake killed more than 8,600 in Nepal, displaced 450,000, triggered fatal avalanches on Mount Everest, and severely damaged centuries-old historic buildings including the palace squares of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.

Since then Nepal’s first billionaire has pledged $2.5 million through his Chaudhary Foundation to restore schools and homes destroyed or damaged by the quake. The foundation will bear all the costs of building 1,000 transitional bamboo-and-plaster homes and is working with other donors to construct another 9,000. MORE