Orissa, Christian village displaced by landslide in Khandamal district
A hundred families housed for ten days in a government school have appealed for decent housing. NGOs mobilized together with local authorities for the emergency. Fr. Madan Singh who visited the displaced: "Close to their suffering."
Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) - In the Kandhamal district of Orissa, infamous for the 2008 violence, a landslide caused by heavy rains has severely devastated the village of Kumbaripadar, inhabited by a Christian community, in recent days. The disaster occurred on Oct. 5, and the people have since been displaced to a nearby government school set up as a relief camp.
In recent days Fr. Madan Singh, director of Jana Vikas, a social service center in Kandhamal district, visited the facility to bring closeness and psychological support to this community.
"All 101 families are displaced," he tells AsiaNews, "and among them 56 are Catholic families. They are currently housed in Tamangi High School, half a kilometer from the affected village. District administrators are taking care of their food and health. But people are afraid to return to the village. Geologists have not yet gone to conduct ground stability checks; the administration has promised to conduct a study to shed more light. The education of students in the area is affected. In addition -- it is still raining every day -- sojourn is also becoming a problem. People have made an appeal: they are asking to be moved to another place nearby."
The needs are great: soap, oil, candles, mosquito nets, blankets, sheets, hygiene products... "All the NGOs in Kandhamal district," Fr. Madan Singh continues, "have collected funds and donated them to the authorities to provide. We at Jana Vikas have also contributed. But most importantly, we personally went there among them to support and console these people."
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07/01/2019 09:30
