Scottish charity sends £30,000 to help people hit by India floods

Aid charity SCIAF has sent £30,000 to help thousands of people left homeless by the floods in Kerala, India.

Devastating floods in Kerala, India left more than 200 people dead and sent more than 800,000 fleeing for dry land. Picture: AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi

More than 350 people have been killed, most in landslides, since the monsoon started in June and about 725,000 are now in emergency relief camps while thousands more are awaiting rescue, the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund said.

SCIAF has sent funds to provide rice, oil, beans, biscuits and basic household items like soap, toothpaste and buckets to those affected by the floods.

Staff from its partner Caritas India are on the ground providing food, water purification tablets and hygiene kits to 20,000 families and will also be making money available for “cash for work” schemes to pay local people to clear flood debris.

Father Paul Moonjely, executive director of Caritas India, said: “Farmers, daily wage workers and agricultural labourers won’t earn anything for the next two to three months. Thousands have no homes to go back to.

“There’s need for food, clothes, beds, mosquito nets, medicines, drinking water supplies and temporary shelters.

“Sanitation and hygiene has been severely compromised and the risk of epidemics is at an all-time high.

“After all these needs are met, there is a need for longer-term rehabilitation, reconstruction and livelihood support for affected families.”

SCIAF and Caritas India are targeting those who are particularly vulnerable such as families that have lost their homes, families with disabled members and households headed by women.

As well as providing immediate assistance they will continue to work with those affected by the floods to help them rebuild their homes and livelihoods.