Crisis relief after cyclone Fani in Odisha

Wed, June 26, 2019 - 9:20pm, written by Alexandra

A different life

The strongest hurricane in 20 years, with wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour, hit the Indian east coast, the state of Odisha, on 3 May 2019.
Friends help friends supported the reconstruction of five affected villages with necessary corrugated iron roofs, which will protect the people from the coming monsoon season. But even now the shadow is essential since at temperatures of up to 48 degrees the people in these areas suffer endlessly...
 
One week after the catastrophe, Venu, Alexandra and their companions travel to various regions for several days to get a personal impression of the situation. The villages that are most severely destroyed and those most in need of help are selected.
 
"...we enter a hut with walls of clay, through which long, wide cracks run from top to bottom. The roof, made of corrugated cement slabs, is brittle and half sunk to the ground. In one corner there are a few metal pots on the bare ground...
Many people have lost the little they had these days. As is so often the case with natural disasters, this time it hit those who already had no idea how to get the most needed things for the day. 
While the large houses of better-off people, built with cement were largely spared, the destruction mainly affected the small mud huts of the poor families.
...In the middle of the narrow room stands a couch made of worn wood. A small child, barely a year old, sits on it. The water runs down the little one's body onto the hard boards.
Even for adult bodies like ours it is an ordeal to endure the over 50 degrees Celsius in the stuffy, dark atmosphere of the approx. seven square metre dwelling. 
But at the sight of this little creature, which patiently and slowly pushes the watery rice from the metal bowl in front of it into his mouth, our own difficulties seem more insignificant than ever.

The big brown eyes look at us as if they wanted to explain life to us. Life that is so completely different here than elsewhere. Here the poverty, which is the constant companion anyway, has once again picked up speed, destroyed the little that is so urgently needed for survival. 
"What worries, what sorrows can you report", this child seems to say. 
"It is only this moment that counts and in which everything melts. This moment in which I breathe, in which I endure the heat, in which I suffer and in which I push the rice from the potty into my mouth with my fingers".
It is one of the many moments on our tours that let us perceive "life" from a completely different perspective. Moments where everything else seems to be unimportant and which make us humble..."
In the villages of Madhya Pradesh, Central India, the same happened to our friends. With these hot temperatures we can better imagine than ever what it means for the affected people to have to walk every day for every little pot of water one or two kilometres to the next watering place.

We thank ALL our friends for their generous donations. In Bangladesh and India we were able to drill a total of seven wells and provide many people with food, medicine, clothing and building materials.
THANK YOU! In Bangladesh and India a total of seven wells were successfully drilled...
 

Thu, May 23, 2019 - 9:00pm, written by Frank, published by Frank

Well drilling in Madhya Pradesh - Cyclone Fani in Odisha

After the completion of the crisis aid in Bangladesh, the return journey of Florian and Alexandra turned out to be quite exciting. Just before the approaching cyclone "Fani" they were able to fly from Cox Bazar to Dhaka. While Florian could fly back to Laos during the night, the airports in East India were closed. All flights there were cancelled, including the return flight of Alexandra, scheduled to route via Calcutta. Due to the announced air traffic disruption of several days and the devastation that Fani had already caused in India, Alexandra changed her schedule and flew back to Germany. After three days filled with doing the laundry and a few necessary errands, she flew right back to India last week. After all, Venu had already organized everything for the postponed well drilling in the south, including domestic flights...

And so the last days in Madhya Pradesh in leprosy colonies the long planned wells could be drilled. Two wells were successfully drilled - after a long time of anxiety and finger crossing, water came – and what a lot of water!

Photos and report will follow.

In the meantime, Venu and Alexandra travelled on to Odisha. There are also many villages which we have supported in the past. A lot has been destroyed by "Fani" - the simple clay and brick huts could not withstand the forces of nature. Natural disasters usually hit the poorest particularly hard ...

Circumstances are unexpectedly fortunate that the two of them are now directly on site to support our friends in the reconstruction. And so roof tiles and repair material were bought and distributed today.

Here are a few photos, which came today by Whatsapp. Telephone and Internet are presently still out of order (which is not surprising as poles have fallen down, etc.). Consequently, it is presently difficult to keep in contact.