Israeli humanitarian NGO IsraAID announced that it is sending an emergency response team to the southern Indian state of Kerala, which has been hit by the worst flooding in living memory.
The emergency team traveling to Kerala this week consists of international and Nepali staff from IsraAID’s office in Nepal, who will distribute urgent relief items and assess the longer-term psychosocial and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) needs of the affected communities. Members of this same team responded last year to heavy flooding in the Terai region of southern Nepal.
“According to the Indian authorities, Kerala is facing its worst flooding in a century. In the face of this devastation, IsraAID will be partnering with local communities and NGOs to help meet the affected population’s pressing needs,” said Yotam Polizer and Navonel Glick, IsraAID’s co-CEOs.
“Based on experience, both internationally and in the region,” they said, “we will focus initially on urgent relief distributions to evacuated communities, while our team assesses next steps in accompanying the affected population on the path to recovery.”
As of 2018, IsraAID has responded to crises in 47 countries and has programs in 17 countries.