Kerala Floods Relief: Death Toll Mounts to 324, States Extend Financial Aid, Funds Pour In From Individuals and Communities
The torrential rains have rendered thousands of people homeless while lakhs have been evacuated to safer places. 58 teams of NDRF are deployed in 8 affected districts, 170 people have been rescued and 7000 people have been evacuated to safer places so far.
Kochi, August 18: While Kerala reels under the deadliest deluge in close to a century, relief for the flood-hit state have started pouring in from states, individuals, celebrities and various communities. Many celebrities have come together and donated their share and have urged their fans to contribute to the relief fund for the victims of the Kerala floods. The national calamity in the southern state has claimed 324 lives since August 8 with gates of 80 dams opened and all rivers in spate.
The torrential rains have rendered thousands of people homeless while lakhs have been evacuated to safer places. 58 teams of NDRF are deployed in 8 affected districts, 170 people have been rescued and 7000 people have been evacuated to safer places so far.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday conducted an aerial survey of flood-affected Kerala and announced ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh per person to the next kin of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 to those seriously injured, from PM’s National Relief Funds (PMNRF). The Prime Minister also announced Rs 500 crore as an immediate aid for Kerala, in addition to the 100-crore announced on August 12. Reports inform that Army and Navy divers from several other agencies joined hands with national and state disaster relief forces to rescue hundreds of stranded people from the flood-affected areas of Kerala.
States that have offered a helping hand to Kerala are as follows:
- Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announced an aid of Rs 5 crores for flood-hit Kerala
- Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announced an aid of Rs 5 crores for flood-hit Kerala from Chief Minister Relief Fund. He has also announced that 245 fire personnel with boats will be sent to Kerala for rescue operations.
- Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announces an aid of Rs 10 crores for flood-hit Kerala from Bihar Chief Minister Relief Fund
- Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani announces Rs 10 crores from chief minister's relief fund for flood-hit Kerala.
- Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced an aid of Rs 10 crores for flood-hit Kerala.
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced relief materials including rice, milk and Rs five crore more for relief operations in the flood-ravaged Kerala. On August 9, Palaniswami had announced the Rs five crore for relief and rehabilitation work.
- Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis announces Rs.20 crore as immediate assistance from Maharashtra Government for Kerala
- Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal yesterday announced Rs 10 crore relief for the state from the government.
- All AAP MPs, MLAs and ministers will donate one-month salary for the relief work in flood-ravaged Kerala while the Congress also said that all its MPs, MLAs and MLC will donate their one month salary for flood relief in Kerala.
- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) prime minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has come out in support for deluge-hit Kerala and ordered the formation of an emergency committee to provide relief to the victims hit by devastating rains and floods in the state.
- IAS officers from Telangana decide to donate their one day's salary towards chief minister's distress relief fund while one lakh packets of food products consisting water bottles, skimmed milk, biscuits & sugar being sent from Punjab for flood-affected Kerala.
- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced an aid of Rs.15 crore for the flood victims in Kerala.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has also come forth to help Kerala flood victims while Actor Karthi met Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh, on behalf of him and Suriya. Others who have contributed to the relief fund include Allu Arjun donated Rs 25 lakh, Kamal Haasan (Rs 25 lakh), Mammootty and Dulquer Salmaan (Rs 25 lakh), Anupama Parameshwaran donated Rs 1 lakh, Vijay Sethupathi (Rs 25 lakh), Siddharth (Rs 10 lakh), Dhanush (Rs 15 lakh), Sivakarthikeyan (Rs 10 lakh), Nayanthara (Rs 10 lakh) among other stars.
Meanwhile, other celebrities including Farhan Akhtar, Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, John Abraham, Sidharth Malhotra, Esha Gupta, Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor and Vidya Balan have urged fans to help the Kerala Flood victim by donating and doing their bit.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 18, 2018 04:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).