In the flooded regions of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, medical teams treated nearly 20,000 people suffering from ailments such as diarrhea, viral infections, and parasites.

Relief teams distributed rice, salt, cooking oil, and water purification tablets to more than 3,400 families affected by the floods. Before receiving aid, Shantai's family, above, went four days without food.

INDIA - Unusually heavy rainfall in August caused widespread flooding across India, leaving at least half of a million people homeless.

Over 350,000 people in the Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh were displaced in early August when heavy rain caused the Godavari River to overflow and flood 160 villages. More than 70,000 people have been shifted to relief camps in Khammam.

On the western side of the country, in Gujarat, heavy monsoon floods caused the deaths of at least 56 people.

Operation Blessing India organized relief efforts in the northern coastal part of Andhra Pradesh as well as Gujarat, setting up medical and supply camps to bring relief to the affected areas. Over 3,400 families in both Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat were provided with temporary housing and supplies such as rice, salt, cooking oil, and water purification tablets.

"The lives of the people affected by these floods have come to a standstill," said Kumar Periasamy, director for Operation Blessing India. "We are looking at the long term needs of the people and working hand-in-hand with other agencies and local bodies so that their needs will be met."

Needs like those of 55-year-old Shantai Bhai Omkar and her family.

Shantai lives in the Milan Nagar slum in Gujarat with her four sons and their families. Before the disaster, she was employed in a shop in Surat, one of the hardest-hit cities, where her sons also worked as laborers.

While waiting for the waters to recede, Shantai and her family spent four days at a railway station and survived by eating whatever food was thrown to them from the speeding trains.

When they returned to their home in Milan Nagar, they found all of their possessions destroyed or swept away.

Fortunately, Operation Blessing teams were on site to give rice and wheat flour to Shantai's family as well as several hundred other families affected by the floods. Additionally, medical teams treated nearly 20,000 people in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat who suffered from ailments such as diarrhea, viral infections, and parasites.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

 

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