India (MNN) — Monsoon season is hitting India with a vengeance. At least 1,060 people have died across the country, mostly in Andhra Pradesh, northern Uttar Pradesh and eastern West Bengal, Assam and Orissa states.
Brent Hample with India Partners says two of their ministry partners in Andhra Predesh have been hit hard by the monsoon rains. He says one of the partners reports, "Nearly 70 villages have been marooned by floods and have been completely cut off. Houses collapsed, and that's how a lot of people perish in the flooding–when the mud walls of the thatched huts collapse on people and the weight pins them under the water."
According to an e-mail from a worker with India Partners, "People are frightened and are shivering in the rains and floods without shelter, food and water. Due to the floods, there will be many dreadful diseases, too." News reports indicate this is the worst flooding in 10 years.
"People are suffering with fevers, diseases, without food to eat, water to drink and without shelter. It's a terrible thing. We are very much moved by this situation. Please pray earnestly so that these people will be helped. Crops and plantations are destroyed. So please pray for these victims."
Transportation, electricity, clean water, food and more are hard to come by, so India Partners is doing something about it. "We're going in to provide food, clean water and medical care as needed to the victims of the flooding and the monsoons," says Hample.
Another partner reports, "We are in need of disaster relief because, due to the heavy rains and floods recently, some of our thatched prayer sheds in two villages are damaged. At our first mission centre with Pastor Christopher, his church compound wall has been collapsed. Therefore, may I request you to help us with disaster relief?"
Funding provided is being used by Indian Christians. "This is all indigenous, so the help is being done by the Christian community there on the ground who live there 24-7, all days of the year; they're part of that community." That will give local Christians an opportunity to be relevant to their neighbors, which will give them more opportunities to share the Gospel.
