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As a series of natural disasters continues to pummel Asia, CRS is helping impoverished victims of severe flooding that hit south India on October 2 and only receded several days later.
"I've never seen a tidal wave, but this is the kind of damage I imagine a tidal wave would look like," says CRS' Katherine Cunliffe of the damage in Andhra Pradesh. "Flood waters rose up to 14 feet in some areas. Houses have been destroyed and there is mud and silt everywhere."
Cunliffe is part of a CRS team coordinating aid to the survivors. "As always, it is the lowest castes who are most affected," she says. "They live near the lower banks of rivers in the area."
Estimates are that nearly 260,000 houses have been partially or completely damaged from the floods. From what had been an extremely fruitful farming season, almost all of the standing crop was washed away.
CRS is distributing food like rice and dhal, as well as shelter materials like tarps and rope, to over 10,000 families in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka as we prepare to reach out to even more people affected by this massive flooding.
- Laura Sheahen, CRS regional information officer for Asia and the Pacific Rim
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Smoke and flames billow from Indian Oil Corporation's fuel depot in Sitapura industrial area, on the outskirts of Jaipur October 30, 2009. A huge fire broke out at an Indian Oil ...
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