Floods in Maharashtra, India

The torrential rains and floods that hit the state of Maharashtra in India on July 26 and its aftermath, has left many families homeless, family members missing, no electricity, food, medical aid, communications, transport or potable water. Almost a thousand people are estimated to have died, about half of them from Mumbai. Many are at risk from disease, malnutrition, loss of livelihood and exploitation. Children are always the most vulnerable in situations like this. Their rights are violated as disasters have a long term impact on their education, health and overall security.

CRY America volunteers, donors and staff deeply mourn the loss of life and the destruction caused in Maharashtra. Many of you have contacted us seeking information on the Maharashtra disaster relief efforts. Our partner in India CRY, is actively working with partner NGOs across Maharashtra to ascertain exactly what their long-term rehabilitation needs are and the support they require.

CRY is working with a coalition of alliances, NGOs and institutions in Maharashtra (including Mumbai) to advocate for state responsibility towards all the affected communities and ensuring equity in the relief and rehabilitation efforts. This will broadly cover - ensuring transparency of information, accountability of the government and participation of the communities in decisions on relief and rehabilitation affecting them. Efforts will include:

• Advocacy - being an active part of the Coalition to ensure that affected people get immediate relief and no vulnerable groups get excluded. This coalition has already placed a set of demands before the state government based on the first round of feedback received from the field.
• Being the leading member of the NGO BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) coordinating committee, CRY along with Yuvak Prathistan (a NGO), will be responsible for coordinating information on relief and rehabilitation efforts with other NGOs for the central suburbs
• Ensuring proper relief to the rest of Maharashtra state by coordinating with partner NGOs and alliances.

The above efforts will place emphasis on children, and the most neglected communities as well as on long-term rehabilitation efforts, not just on immediate relief. The activities that CRY has chosen to focus on will ensure long term, sustainable change. However, these are not money-intensive activities and therefore we are not actively raising funds for theses activities.

With faith and goodwill,

Shefali Sunderlal,
President CRY America