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India Church agencies struggling to provide cyclone relief

Scale of damage hampering aid distribution effort, groups say
India Church agencies struggling to provide cyclone relief

An uprooted tree lies across a road after Cyclone Hudhud made landfall in Visakhapatnam, India on Monday (AFP Photo)

Published: October 16, 2014 09:25 AM GMT
Updated: October 15, 2014 10:26 PM GMT

Church relief agencies and the government are struggling to help thousands of people displaced by a cyclone that hit India’s western coastal states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh this week.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the overseas social service arm of the US Catholic bishops’ conference, has joined Caritas India and other local Church groups in the relief effort.

Cyclone Hudhud, which made landfall on Sunday with wind speeds of 170-180kph, has claimed at least 28 lives. Some 600,000 people have taken shelter in relief camps mainly in three coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh—Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram.

The disaster has severely damaged thousands of homes, disrupted electricity and communication networks and paralyzed transport systems, Caritas India said.

More than 25,000 houses were damaged in Odisha’s Koratput district alone, according to government figures.

Relief efforts are "badly affected because we are not able to communicate and coordinate easily," Caritas spokesman Amrit Sangma told ucanews.com on Thursday.

He said they hoped to begin the distribution of relief material later Thursday.

Up to 1.8 million people in badly hit Visakhapatnam continue to live without adequate drinking water, milk for children and other essential commodities, Caritas has reported.

CRS country head Tony Castleman told ucanews.com on Wednesday that Church aid groups were looking to distribute aid to 4,500 families in Odisha and 2,000 families in Andhra Pradesh.

"We are providing shelter kits, water and hygiene kits,” he said.

Mosquito nets, torches and blankets “would soon be distributed among them”, he added.

The Federation of Telugu Churches, an Andhra Pradesh-based Christian association, reported that scores of drinking water sources were destroyed.

Thousands of hectares of agricultural land were badly affected threatening the livelihoods of poor farmers, the federation said.

The Andhra Pradesh government, with the support of the military and the National Disaster Response Force, were still busy clearing roads of felled trees and mangled communication towers and power lines, on Thursday, media reports said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an interim relief fund of some US$166 million for Andhra Pradesh following a visit to the disaster area on Tuesday.

 

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