Charity issues ‘Kerala Disaster Relief Appeal’ to supportthe affected people in Kerala, South India due to worst landslides and heavy rains…
The charity has issued anappeal in the wake of adverse weather conditions associated with torrential monsoon rain in the southern state of India, Kerala. Many people have lost their lives and a large number of people lost their livelihood including their houses. The worst affected areas are northern districts wherein landslides and heavy flow of water swept away acres of land including humans and houses.
Over 100 people have died in the 2nd week of August due to floods and landslides in Kerala, and the number of deaths is feared to climb as many are still missing – most of them in Malappuram and Wayanadu in the northern part of the state.
Kerala, according to data from the weather department, received 387 per cent excess rainfall between August 8 and 14. Wayanad district received 407 per cent excess rainfall for the same duration, while Malappuram received 500 per cent excess. This is in sharp contrast to around 35 per cent rainfall deficit in Kerala till end July, with reservoirs running dry.
In Wayanad, where one of the worst landslides took place, around five lakh tonnes of soil was displaced, most of it at one go, washing out an estimated 20 hectares of land, as per the reports. The death toll, in this Ecologically Sensitive Zone, would have been much higher, if many of the 56 families living there, were not evacuated a day before, say officials. Many people have died in this particular landslide.
The immediate trigger for the major landslides in Malappuram and Wayanad was due to the high intensity rainfall in a short span. According to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, there were 64 landslides in the state in the recent disastrous spell. Many villages were wiped off completely in places like PuthumalaIn Wayanad and Kavalappara in Malappuram districts due to heavy scale worst landslide.
Unlike 2018, where around 400 people were killed, mostly due to floods, this year, majority of the 103 deaths have happened due to landslides.
The trustees discussed in detail about issuing an emergency appeal and decided to go for an appeal as a solidarity and support of U.K malayalees to the people of Kerala, wherefrom most of the community emigrated from associated with BMCF. The trust also has decided to support directly this time to the affected areas. However, the same will be decided later after identifying the reliable sources. The trustees decided to issue this appeal instead of the usual Onam appeal wherein individuals are being supported with necessary funds. Hence there will be no onamappeal .and the charity will be generating the funds from the Malayali community during their Onam celebrations through this appeal.
Please click on the following link if you would like to donate and please ensure you tick gift aid box consent column asevery £ 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:-
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/britishmalayali
Please visit www.britishmalayali.co.uk/news/charity for further details/news in malayalam.