Kerala’s worst floods in history; Charity’s fresh campaign receives a warm response; resets target to £ 50,000.00 for Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund…
More Associations, community groups and local people including all other communities in U.K have responded positively with the charity’s request to reach the ‘Kerala Floods Relief Appeal’ far and wide. ‘Dans Kerala Floods Aid’ in Leeds led by Anthony Augustine and his son Daniel Kunnel will be doing a sponsored bike ride to raise fund through the fundraising page already set up by them. They have selected BMCF as donating charity and all the proceeds received will be given to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. Apart from the above, a well-wishers group from Darlington Malayali Community, Coventry Kerala School, Friends Sporting Club, Manchester; Malayali Association in Sutton & Surrey (MASS), Devon Malayali Association along with United Scotland Malayali Association (USMA), who had already pledged their support as soon as the appeal begun. Individuals such as Sonsy Sam from Basingstoke have also initiated in setting up fundraising page to support the appeal as same as Priya from St. Helier directly supporting to the charity. The badges & posters as shown with this news are with us to despatch and if anyone wishes to get them, please contact the charity members shown on the right. You may please arrange to wear the badges and stick/display the posters at workplaces, supermarkets, shopping centres and other public places*. This new campaign has been initiated by the charity aiming to reach the message to all communities in U.K to gain more support to rebuild the state of Kerala, which has been badly affected by the devastation of monsoon rains and floods. The trust has also urged to the communities and well wishers to set up their own fundraising page selecting BMCF as sponsoring charity. As decided earlier in the trust, it has reassured again that the raised fund will be handed over to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund only. The donation will get enhanced to another 25% if eligible through fundraising pages such as virginmoneygiving. The state of Kerala hugs the south-western coast of India. It is home to more than 33 million people it is renowned as a tropical paradise of golden beaches and picturesque canals and ayurvedic rejuvenation, but today it is in the grip of catastrophe. 12 of its 14 districts have been impacted by what is been described as the worst floods in this century. Reports vary on the precise scale and scope of the devastation but the impact is staggering.
The state was reeling under one of the worst hit monsoon rains since August 9 th . Around a million people displaced and shifted to 5000 temporary relief camps to provide emergency assistance including food and clean drinking water. Hundreds of boats and dozens of helicopters were used as part of the rescue efforts… Many of those around 500 people died were crushed under debris caused by landslides and subsequent damages including the collapse of houses. The people were evacuated from their homes as 
around 40000 houses were destroyed beyond repair due to the damages caused by the flooding/landslides. The houses remained submerged, crops destroyed and livestock lost. Aid agencies reported widespread destruction throughout the state as an estimated 10,000 Kms of roads and bridges have been washed away causing further frustrating disastrous efforts on relief operations. The overall losses are still unaccounted which is estimated to be around £ 5 billion as unconfirmed sources claimed. The central govt had to deploy all the forces such as Army, Navy & Air force to deal with the rescue operations.. The record shows that the scale of such rainfall years ago in 1924, or Malayalam Era 1099, when the rain fell for three weeks in the biggest flood the country had seen.
Please click on the following link if you would like to donate and please ensure you tick gift aid box consent column as every £ 1.00 you donate will be enhanced to another £ 0.25 by reclaiming the gift aid from HMRC, if you are a UK tax payer. You can also pay to charity’s bank a/c as per the details given in the home page.
Please visit www.britishmalayali.co.uk/news/charity for further details/news in malayalam. *Please ensure to do so strictly with the permission of employer/concerned authorities only as the British Malayali Charity Foundation will not be responsible for any legal claims/consequences arising out of doing so by anyone.