Page 17 - Keralite Magazine _new 1 copy

KERALITE
K er ala Floods:
Kerala Floods:
s Own C
hen God’
W
When God’s Own Country Drowned
By Prabs Chandrasekaran, charity lead and Sujith Menon, president
On August 15, while the rest of India were
celebrating the Independence Day with pomp and
glory, little did we realize what was in store for the
people of Kerala. The torrential rain did not stop
and was unabated for the whole day. This
continued into the next day as well and to make
matters worse, the area of these downpours were
near the reservoirs of Kerala that holds water for
irrigation and drinking purpose. The reservoirs were
already strained in capacity from previous rainfalls.
August 2018 rainfall in Kerala was 164% excess for
the month than normal. By the end of the day on
August 16, the reservoirs swelled to their maximum
capacities and reached dangerous levels of
breaching. Sensing catastrophic conditions, it was
decided to open the gates of all major dams in the
state. The spillways of 35 of the 54 dams within the
state were opened for the first time in history.
Kerala and its people are now under the mercy of
the flood waters. It was the worst flood in Kerala in
nearly a century. Over 483 people died and 15 are
missing. At least a million people were evacuated.
All 14 districts of the state were placed on red alert.
According to the Kerala government, one-sixth of
the total population of Kerala had been directly
a ected by the floods and related incidents. The
Indian government had declared it a Level 3
Calamity, or "calamity of a severe nature." It is the
worst flood in Kerala after the great flood of 99
(Malayalam year) that happened in 1924.
As the day dawned on August 16, in the U.S., Kerala
Club executive members were watching the media
of what was unfolding in their native land and it
was becoming more and more clear of the worst
natural disaster in Kerala. We saw images of
frightening destruction, raging floods ravaging
Kerala, desperate pleas for rescue as water levels
rose, videos of homes destroyed and people
displaced. We witnessed from afar, the worst
calamity that Kerala had seen in a century.
And, just as despair was at its peak, from this
immense tragedy arose something else; stronger
2018
o
ountry Dr
wned
and more ferocious than ever – the human will to
persevere! Fishermen came by the hundreds to
navigate the raging waters; our brave hearts in
uniform worked tirelessly to reach the almost
unreachable; young men and women mobilized and
led rescue and relief e orts. Our leaders, political
and administrative, worked side by side without
regard for their own comfort.
As an organization that prides itself in serving the
community, we decided this is the time of need for
our brothers and sisters back home who
desperately needed help. After quick planning
discussions of the available options, we decided to
do a fundraiser so that the money collected could
be directly used for relief and rehabilitation work
with our partners back home to the most flood-
a ected victims in the state.
A “Go Fund Me” (https://www.gofundme.com/
kerala-floods-relief-fundraiser) was started on
August 17, with the goal of raising $25,000 towards
this e ort. Our friends, donors and patrons who
also saw the heart-wrenching images on the media
opened their hearts and extended their arms to
help and contribute to the GFM campaign. In four
days we reached our target goal of $25,000 and
with the help of local media such as CNN.com, Fox
2 News, Channel 4 News WXYZ, our GFM page
became one of the most accessed page during this
flood crisis. People started contributing from far
and away, some of them with no idea or information
about Kerala but all they wanted to do was help. We
decided to increase our campaign goal to $50,000
and our donors continued their support. Very soon
we reached $45,000 in 13 days of starting the
campaign. On October 31, we decided to formally
close our GFM campaign after reaching our of goal
of $50,000.
In addition to our GFM campaign, we received
contribution from our partners in the amount of
$30,000 and Kerala Club and its executive
committee members donated $10,000 towards
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