Amphan Relief

This year is indeed a remarkable year. We are witnessing disasters one after another. Amphan - the recent cyclone that hit West Bengal, Odisa and Bangladesh just added another layer of misery to the people who were already struggling because of the Covid situation.

Bidyang Dehi family has a long-term relationship with the village named Chak Kathalia in North 24 Parganas (https://goo.gl/maps/4Dd2ZveXKv1mWfDt9). Last time with your generous donations Bidyang Dehi family was able to set up a covid-19 relief fund for families in Chak Kathalia. We learned recently that without these funds, many families would have starved. After the spread of Covid-19, of course the situation for the poor families was increasingly difficult, but they at least had a roof over their head, where they could "shelter-in-place". They were trying to learn a new rhythm of life amidst Covid lockdown regulations, as are we all.

But in the midst of this financial crisis, the super cyclone Amphan hit our state West Bengal very badly, on May 20th. East Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas are among the worst hit districts. Chak Kathalia is situated in North 24 Parganas and has been horribly devastated by Amphan. As farming is one of the main occupations for most of the families there, their lives have become very hard after this storm, as their fields have been destroyed. Before the cyclone hit the village they took shelter in a school or in one of our volunteers' house. But the wind destroyed the 'chal' or the roof, of the homes of over 60 families. Suddenly many families are in desperate need to rebuild their houses, as it is still monsoon time. Of course there are other flood related problems, such as potable water and food scarcity, and on top of all this the Covid situation is still threatening.

In this dark time, Bidyang Dehi family wants to help them as much as we can. If we can help families in this village rebuild their homes, that would be a very important contribution from us.

As a rough estimate for a 12 ft x 12 ft room, we need around 4000 INR to put a tin-roof. So roofing 60 houses would cost around 2.5 lakh INR which is around 3,500 USD. Of course whatever we are able to fund raise and send to them would be helpful in any way.

We hope we can get your support this time too, like other past relief requests. Please send your contribution to Shibdas's Bank of America (BOA) account (shibdas@outlook.com).

We recognize that many people are helping various organizations, and budgets are getting thin during in this global pandemic. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and we hope we can all rally together to help this community, as they can only hope for help in this time. Situation will be extremely hard in the coming future. We are also working on a large scale crowd funding through go-fund me. Hopefully will all the support, we will be able to help people in Chak Kathalia get back on their feet soon.

Recent pictures from Chak Kathalia village