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In August, the southwestern state of Kerala was hit by heavy monsoons leaving more than 450 dead and more than a million displaced. The extreme flooding across the state left the economy in shambles with more than $2.3 billion in estimated damages.

Sadly, some of our brothers and sisters in Christ are counted among those who’ve lost their lives to the floods. Other believers have lost their homes; even Life Centers have washed away. Throughout the state, phone lines are down, transportation is difficult, and the electric grid is heavily damaged.

While relief efforts are underway, they are woefully inadequate. The waters have mostly receded, but have left behind diseases such as rat fever, dengue, infections and malaria. These are spreading rampantly, causing the death toll to rise even higher. Homes and livelihoods have disappeared for much of the Kerala population.

Survivors are living in make-shift housing and thatched huts exposed to the whims of nature, wondering if they will ever again have a roof over their heads. Some children have returned to school but have no place to come home to or work on their studies. Women struggle to take care of basic hygiene because there are no safe facilities for them to use. Men work from dawn to dusk clearing debris and salvaging what they can but have no real employment and thus no income to support their families.

The situation is grim, to say the least.

YOU CAN HELP

Through a three-phase approach, the IGL leadership has developed a plan that will not only deal with the immediate relief efforts, but also the long-term rebuilding and rehabilitation needs of the community. From providing sleeping mats to digging water wells, there is much yet to be done in Kerala. So far, thanks to your gifts, IGL pastors have been working hard to help the victims since day one, and have already handed out survival kits to more than 100 families! These kits include cooking vessels, stoves, mats, flashlights, blankets and much more.

But we won’t stop with just the immediate relief. We hope to continue the work for years to come, through the local churches in Kerala – rebuilding houses, providing employment opportunities, digging clean water wells and so much more. At India Gospel League, we strive to meet the needs of the whole person – spiritually, physically, economically and more. And never are these needs more apparent or more urgent than now.

Will you help rebuild the lives of those affected by this tragedy? We are praying for friends of India (like you) to assist the flood victims by providing $262,500 toward the first two phases of the project. So far, 15 percent has been funded! But that leaves so much more to be done.